


The Pharaoh

by BlueJayTaco



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ancient Egypt, Character Death, F/M, Fifth Element Spoilers, Gun Violence, Language Barrier, M/M, Military Background, Minor Character(s), Past Peachshipping, Past Relationship(s), References to War, Violence, fifth element au, possibly a bit ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-08-14 07:56:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20188903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueJayTaco/pseuds/BlueJayTaco
Summary: The Pharaoh was created to be the supreme being; the one destine to save and protect the universe. Yugi Mutou was a retired military major turned cab driver mixed up in this destiny. He was tasked with a mission to help the Pharaoh and save the Earth from the impending doom brought on by a dark entity.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So! Here is my little addition for this year's Big Bang! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first chapter for the Big Bang!  


The large tomb was already ancient by the time Professor Hawkins made his discovery. It was as impossible to miss as the carvings were to understand but, eventually, he found a way to translate.

He stood by the giant wall in the desert heat of midday. As sweat poured down his face, he looked over the passage and recited aloud the context of the wall. Off to his side, in the coolness of the shadows, sat his young apprentice and granddaughter. She didn’t show much care for what her grandfather was saying. He’d spent the better part of a month with this discovery. It was to fight an evil that would show its face every five thousand years.

She knew this because he continued to repeat it.

“Okay okay, I'm losing track of what was said. Tell me where we are?”

The priest's footsteps were light as he walked into the tomb with a water satchel. This could go no further. The Pharaoh was not ready. And no one wanted the Pharaoh to emerge any sooner than necessary.

“Right right right. Where were we? Every five thousand years...” The professor's words echoed down the grand corridor. “The Seven items, all placed in their slabs, surrounding... someone. An eighth item? A god, perhaps?” He took a step back and observed the wall. The items were clearly depicted. However, time and weather began to chip away at the one humanoid figure that stood in the middle of them all.

“You work hard, my friend.”

Hawkins spun around in surprise. There stood the priest with a smile on his face. He let out a soft sigh. “If I didn't know any better, Father, I would say you were trying to give me a heart attack.”

The priest gripped his satchel tighter. The smile tightened as he lifted the leather. “I thought you and your assistant might be thirsty.”

“Oh, Shadi, my friend. You are too good to us.” He snapped his fingers. “Rebecca! Bring some cups.”

The apprentice, shocked out of her thoughts by the sound of her name, jumped up immediately. “Yes, Grandpa!”

Hawkins returned his eyes to the wall and touched the depiction of the humanoid creature with his brush. “This being. Whatever it was, it was highly worshipped. But why?”

Shadi kept a tight hold on his emotions. His fears wanted him to react immediately. To end this before they could go any further. But he knew if he was too direct and too rash, it would bring even more attention to this place.

But he could feel it. There was a time limit.

The more Hawkins figure out and uncovered, the more people would piece it together. And Shadi couldn't have that; not when his friends from another world made it clear they were to be Guardians in the Shadows and nothing more.

Not to mention it could cause a hostile climate if the Pharaoh were ever to return.

“Oh, dear me.”

Shadi turned and looked at Hawkins. His eyes widened in shock as the professor lit up with a realization.

“Shadi. This being; it's not a being at all! It's a weapon!”

Shadi's heart stopped. Yes, this could go no further. As Rebecca brought over the cups and took the leather water sack from Shadi, Hawkins continued and pointed up, his finger following a carved line from the figure up to a round orb near the ceiling. “At least, not a being in the common sense. It’s a creature. A weapon creature. With a strength within deadly enough to kill God Himself.”

It... wasn't completely wrong. But he wasn't completely right either. It didn't matter; this was enough. Shadi forced a smile as the cups were distributed and he raised his own. “This may be the greatest discovery of your life.” The cups clanked together.

Shadi pretended to drink his own as Hawkins downed the water like a parched man. The relief was almost palpable enough to be felt in the air around them.

However, it couldn't stay. The sound of whirling winds and a deep hum filled the desert. A vessel large enough to block the sun descended on the ruins. And out came eight, heavily armored creatures. The metal clanked loudly against the stone floor, making it impossible for anyone to ignore their presence. The egg-shaped metal made it hard for them to walk too fast, but speed was far from important right now.

All three humans ran to the entrance to see the cause of the noise. Hawkins and Rebecca stared at the beings in shock.

Shadi's expression told a much deeper story. “...you have returned.”

One of the armored creatures stopped before Shadi. There was a low hum in its armor before a mechanical voice came out. “Earth No Longer Safe. Must Move Items.” It walked passed him and to the wall. It pulled a large gold key from the neck of the armor and pushed it into the wall right in the head of the weapon creature. As soon as it was in, the wall cracked and began to slide open. The stone scraped against itself loudly as another room was revealed, deeper than the last. In it were seven different podiums surrounding a statue of a humanoid being looking up with eyes and mouth agape.

The creatures immediately moved to grab the items and the statue as the three humans watched in silence. When the statue was removed from the room and to the vessel outside, the room felt empty and dark. The only creature that remained was the one with the key.

Hawkins stumbled into the room and took in the sight. “What... an incredible... find.”

The creature with the key turned and looked at him.

Hawkins' eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground. His body twitched then lied still as he released his final breath.

“No Human Should Know.”

Shadi shook his head. “No human will know. I have taken care of-”

“Grandpa!”

Both the priest and the creature turned to see Rebecca. Rebecca, who had spilled her water at the shocking sight of armored creatures coming from the sky.

Shadi felt his body run cold. He wanted to save the girl from what might become a horribly painful death. Yet, she wouldn't take the easy way out.

In fact, she wanted to make it as hard as possible. Rebecca pulled a small pistol off the professor's body and pointed it at the creature. “Don't move!”

“Rebecca,” Shadi put his hands up in defense and slowly stepped closer to the girl, “this is not the solution.”

“Are you blind?! They used some kind of devil ray to kill the professor! This is the only way!”

How does he tell the girl the truth? Could he possibly do that without ruining her chances of leaving here? Probably not. The moment she signed on to become part of this little team was the moment her fate was sealed.

Shadi walked closer still and Rebecca continued to back up. “Rebecca, there is nothing to fear. Please, listen.”

“How can you side with them, Father?! Look at it! Look what it _ did _.” She gestured to her grandfather with tears in her eyes.

Shadi bit back the urge to tell her he was the reason her grandfather died. But he knew she would most likely shoot him outright with that discovery. “Listen to me, Rebecca. I need you to put the gun down.”

She shook her head and backed up until he was outside the room. It was then the being moved and Rebecca immediately turned the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet found its way into the neckline exposed partially by the removal of the key.

The being started to bleed.

Panic set in and Rebecca stumbled away to find safety in the entrance of the tomb. She wouldn't make it far, as the vessel made it impossible for any mortal being to be near it. She didn’t survive her stumble out into the desert.

But that was the least of Shadi's concern. He moved in to check on the being only to find the door to the room closing. On instinct, he moved in and grabbed the giant metal armor and began his attempt to help the alien out of the room.

But their movement was much slower than that of the stone moving across to lock them in.

“We must hurry!”

The creature couldn't move fast enough. It knew that much. It looked at Shadi. “There Will Be A Day To Return To Earth. Must Stay Prepared.”

“Yes, but for now we must get you out.”

“You Must Leave.” The large key was pushed into Shadi's hand. “Pass From Life. Protect And Guide.” 

He couldn't be too sure what happened but suddenly he was shoved through the closing doors. The loud bang and the darkness confirmed it; he didn't have to turn.

But still. He needed to try. He needed to get the creature out and return it home with the others. Even though the key would no longer open the door. Even though he could hear the engines whirling once more.

He fought with the door even in the silence. But then, he had to accept his mission.

He must train his disciples well and pass down the knowledge to prepare for the return. 

-

Years turned into decades turned into centuries. The return wasn't terribly obvious, at first. If the human race hadn't advanced as much as they did, they might think nothing of the giant mass in the sky that wandered into their Solar System. A mass heading for the Earth.

A mass that already killed several soldiers when they attempted to bring it down through missiles and bombs.

A mass one priest had feared would appear in his lifetime. He felt like he had only just taken on a disciple of his own when the reports came in. But there was no doubt about it; this was the evil from the stories his master would tell.

The Pharaoh was somewhere out there as well. He’d gotten contact from them only the day before. And he feared he didn't know exactly how to guide them. No one had seen even a hint of the beings in eons; neither the mass nor the Pharaoh. Why now?

“...Father?” 

He looked at his disciple briefly before his eyes turned back to the Earth's leader. He listened to their discussions of a second firing, this time from a bigger distance as to keep the ship's crew from getting caught in the explosion and killed.

It didn't matter. As soon as another weapon was shot into that mass, the ones pulling the trigger would be dead and the mass would be bigger. He couldn't handle seeing more of this. “Mr. President.”

Everyone in the room turned to him. He stood up as he heard his name announced. “This is Priest Mahad. Expert in Astral Phenomenon.”

He ignored it and slowly stepped forward. “I would like to propose a different method against this threat.”

The president stared at him with guarded eyes. The man was renowned for his heightened intelligence and cold, calculated control over nearly any force. He was also very well known for having an extremely skeptical view to anything even remotely fantasy. And this didn’t so much toe the line of fantasy as it dove over the line and tried to use it as a jump rope.

So Mahad would have to watch the way he spoke.

“Your time is limited, Father. I suggest you speak quickly.”

He heard his companion stand behind him but he only glanced to let her know he was alright. “I believe your decision to violence is what is making this threat grow. It feeds off the evil... Fighting fire with fire will only burn the world.”

“You can spout your little t-shirt sayings to me all you want. But, until I hear a viable solution to this problem, you may as well just tell me what I already know.”

“I have a solution. But you must keep an open mind.” He waved over his disciple. “Mana.”

When she walked over to the desk with a large tome, the president rolled his eyes.

Mahad did his best to ignore it as he opened the book to show detailed drawings of seven different podiums surrounding an eight. “This is our best weapon against this darkness. These seven items were built with the sole purpose to protect. And, with them altogether, they will power a creature we call the Pharaoh. A supreme being.”

“And where are these items now? And this supreme being?”

Mahad's tongue froze.

That was enough of an answer for the leader. He growled and pressed on the intercom. “Fire when ready.”

Mahad tensed immediately. “President Kai-”

“You are free to believe any of these little fairytales you'd like, but I have billions of lives to protect.”

“Then you should know this pattern of attack is only doing more harm than good. You've attacked before only to fail, correct?”

That caught his attention. The president stared at Mahad, his eyes wavering slightly. This would be the third time they shot at the mass. And each and every time, it only grew to consume its offender.

“The mass is bracing itself once more. Preparing to fire.”

The president growled and pressed the intercom again. “General, abort-”

It was too late. The missiles were sent out, the largest and most powerful weapons the Earth could supply. Just as before, the mass only grew.

There was static through the speaker and a voice cutting in and out before it let out a loud scream then went silent.

Mahad clenched his jaw and looked at his leader. “These fairytales, as you call them, are the only way to defeat something with this amount of power. The beings who protect these items and this warrior are simply waiting for approved access. If we let them in, they can explain.”

The president eyed Mahad a little longer. He turned to look at one of his generals. General Jounouchi just shrugged helplessly. “We have nothing to lose.”

The president sighed deeply. “Then let them through.”

As soon as access was granted, a large ship proceeded to move through space. It was a slow ship with no weapons to speak of.

That made it easy prey for anyone who knew what was on board.

Within minutes, two smaller vessels zoomed by and began shooting at the larger one. Before an order could be released to send out a ship to protect them, the large peace vessel veered off course. Fire lit up the ship as it crashed and exploded on the surface of the Moon.

Mahad could only watch the camera in shock. Mana pulled up a chair for her master and watched grimly as he sunk down in it without taking his eyes away from the screen.

The president tensed as well and even had the capacity to look apologetic to Mahad. But still, he had to move on. “Father, you should go home.”

“No. No, I should stay here. If they send another party-”

“Then we'll inform you immediately. But right now, we have to look at all other options in disposing of this threat before it can move in to consume us.” 

Mana grabbed the book from the table and looked up in time to see Mahad's face fall and the hope in his eyes begin to die. Moments later, the two were being escorted out of the room by a few armed soldiers.

Mana held the book to her chest. “Maybe they survived. If the Pharaoh was on that ship, they'll come to you, right?”

Mahad didn't want to break Mana's naïve dreams so he didn't acknowledge the girl for a moment. He just continued to walk on silently.

As he walked away a report came in of a survivor being pulled from fiery wreckage on the Moon. 

The woman reporting in was practically hopping at the results she gave to the blond general. “We're still digging through the wreckage to see if there's anything else to find, but so far we really only have the survivor. And this is time-sensitive; we could lose them if we don't hurry.”

Jounouchi wanted to chase after Mahad and inform him. Maybe it would give the priest some hope rather than send him home looking like the world just ended.

But, he knew this was extremely time-sensitive and he needed to go see this creature in case it died in the process of reviving. There was no reason to put false hope into the priest.

He let the scientists lead him to the labs.

-

Death. Destruction. Horrible images of explosions and mangled forms. A fire that threatened to consume all life.

Yugi woke with a start and panted as he reoriented himself. Yes, just another dream. He thought he'd be used to them by now. He sucked in a few deep breaths before covering his eyes and allowing himself to drift off again.

Right in time for his alarm to sound. And the phone to ring. He groaned loudly. Clearly, there wasn't any more sleep to be had. He pulled himself up and rubbed at his eyes as he turned off his alarm. It was almost a full minute of ringing before he found the energy to pull himself out of bed and answer it.

A tall man with well maintained brunet hair smiled at him from the other side of the screen. “Good morning, Major!”

Yugi blinked the sleep from his eyes and pushed away from the screen. “What is it, Honda? It's too early for this.”

The screen separated itself from the wall and floated. “Aww, I miss you too. Listen, I just wanted to congratulate you. It's been six months since the divorce and you've turned down all my attempts at getting you back out there.”

“Maybe you should take that as a hint.”

“You can't seriously still be hung up on Anzu. I know fifty other girls who would kill to meet someone like you. Seriously, I could have them all over your house tonight.”

“No more set-ups. It's creepy.” He started the coffee maker and looked back at the screen as it followed him around his small apartment. “Besides, I'm not looking for just anyone. I want someone-”

“If you say 'perfect,' I swear to God...”

“-perfect.”

Honda groaned and tossed his head back. “Perfection isn't a thing, Yugi. C'mon, tonight; you, me, and maybe Jou if we can pull him away from President Asshat. If you go tonight, I won't ask anymore.”

Yugi just stared at the screen. 

“Also, your cab is in need of its maintenance check.”

His expression softened at that as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “You could have led with that.”

“Nah, had to get the important stuff out of the way first.”

Yugi clicked his tongue and looked into his mug. “Honda, your fascination with my love life is kinda off-putting. You should check that.”

He laughed. “Just a concerned citizen. I'll see ya soon.” With that, the screen went black and left Yugi in the dark with his coffee. 

Had it really been six months? Did it really matter at this point? She was gone and, from what he gathered, she had moved on. Maybe Honda had a point. Not that he would ever give the guy the satisfaction of knowing that.

He downed his coffee and got dressed for the day. In that time, he could hear scratching at his apartment door from the stray cat he'd been feeding. Well, at least there was someone in his life.

He prepared a bowl for her and opened the door, not bothering to check the security camera.

And immediately found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. The guy holding it looked overjoyed; his emotions lit up in his eyes as he held an L 4.50 in his shaking arms. The gun was large and intimidating. It could pack a punch if the person using it knew anything about it.

Which Yugi was betting this kid didn't. A flashing little button on the side told him it was in need of shutdown and repair. He should know; he had a hand in testing that model.

“Give me your wallet, short-stack.”

Yugi rolled his eyes at that. Any patience he may have had for the kid flew out the window at that moment. “You know that gun is broken, right?”

The mugger smiled. “How could you know? You willing to get shot and find out it's not?”

“Okay, let's play a little game. If you pull the trigger and that gun shoots, you're free to take anything of value in my apartment. If it doesn't, I take the gun.”

“What are you, some kind of idiot?!”

Yugi regarded him calmly. He leaned against the doorway. “Take your time.”

The guy continued to shake for a moment as he worked up the nerve to pull the trigger on his non-moving target. When he finally did, the gun locked up and let out a beeping noise, refusing to release the trigger even when his finger moved away.

Yugi snorted in amusement and put the food down for his hungry friend. “I guess I win.”

“I ain't giving you my gun, br-!” He stopped at the telltale sound of charging. A large handgun pressed against the bottom of his chin.

Yugi smiled with only his lips. “You know who's gun _ isn't _ broken?” He gently plucked the larger gun away from his failed mugger. “You know, this is a pretty dangerous weapon. We wouldn't want any kids getting a hold of it. The streets are dangerous enough as it is.”

The mugger backed up. “Y-yeah, good point!”

Yugi kept his gun aimed at his would-be mugger. “You know, maybe you should go back to school or something? Learn another way to make your money?”

“Yo-you're right! I'll do that!”

As the man ran off, Yugi dumped the gun into a small room stacked with similar weapons. Domino City had a real problem with muggers. At least he was able to get a small handful of their guns off the streets.

He gave the cat a small goodbye when he walked out of the apartment. He climbed into his cab and spaced out as the radio host spouted out about announcing the winner of some contest for the Kingdom Cruise. The winner would win a ticket for two and get to spend time with famous personality, Pegasus J. Crawford. 

Personally, that sounded like hell to Yugi. Still not his problem; he had his own life to live.

The cab floated gently out into the busy skies of Domino City.


	2. Chapter 2

The 'survivor' was nothing amazing by sight. Had this been only one hundred years earlier, it would even be impossible. A single right hand in a metal glove was barely enough to be considered a survivor.

And, as Mokuba looked at Jounouchi, he knew the general was thinking the same thing. He poked at the glass. “You're sure you can rebuild this thing?”

He grinned and peered up at him over the rims of his glasses. “Well normally, I'll admit it would give me a little trouble, but take a look at this.” He pressed a button and up appeared a double helix. He pointed to it. “This is what our own DNA chain looks like; it doesn't matter who you are, it all looks like this. Our little friend here?” He pressed another button and up appeared another double helix, this one much more compact to the point where it was nearly a cylinder. “They're just jam-packed full of information in their cells. I wouldn't be surprised if we left it alone and they rebuild automatically. Who knows what kind of creature came from this!”

Jou looked at the computer then back to the hand in the glass. “So, we're dealing with some freak?”

“Yeah!” He nearly bounced in excitement. “Isn't that amazing?”

The general still didn't seem sure. “Well, we gotta see what this thing knows. But don't get attached. If it steps out of line, it's dead.”

“Yeah yeah.” He pressed a few keys and called out to his crew. “Let's begin the process.” 

Jou watched the glass as everyone around him typed away on their computers and watched their screens. Soon enough, the machine began its process at rebuilding the skeleton. A human looking creature that the blond was sure would eventually take a turn for the worse. But as the muscles were layered on and the body was forced to grow skin and hair, he found it just continued to look more and more human.

When the process ended, there was a short man laying in the chamber, his muscles lean under the tanned skin and his hair a wild mess of black, red and blond.

He was, for lack of a better term...

“Perfect.” Mokuba breathed out the word and moved a hand up to shut Jou's slackened jaw.

The general's eyes didn't move from the chamber. White wrapping shot out from the corners and covered the man's genitals.

“This is... being recorded, right?”

Mokuba raised an eyebrow at him.

He cleared his throat as a blush came over his cheeks. “For the records.”

He didn't answer him. Instead, he simply turned back to his crew. “Initiate reanimation.”

“Yes, Sir.” 

A loud zap resonated through the room and, in reaction, the man in the chamber arched with a loud pained gasp. He thrashed, red eyes shot open wide as he was suddenly very awake and very confused. 

He backed into a corner and slammed into the glass of his tank. He looked around then began feeling his way through the tank. His hands slapped against the glass experimentally. It took him a moment to notice the people on the other side.

“'iismah li. 'ana bihajat lilkuruj min huna.” When no one responded, he looked around. “Hal yastatie 'aya ahd musaeadati? Hal yafham 'ahad?”

Jou glanced at Mokuba. “Can he get out of there?”

“It's sealed tight. This building could collapse and the chamber would stay in one piece.”

Jounouchi shrugged and took the key from the exterminate button. He smiled at the man.

The newly revived creature just tilted his head.

“Gotta work on your communication, buddy.” He grinned at the being and spun his key. “Hope you're a fast learner.”

Red eyes followed the object. They seemed to process what was being said and what must be done. He sat there for a moment and looked as though he was weighing his options. Then, he lowered his head and looked Jounouchi dead in the eyes. A small glow appeared on his forehead as he let out a soft, inhuman growl.

Then his hand broke through the glass and grabbed into the front of Jou's shirt. He pulled the man closer and slammed his head into the chamber. In the same movement, the being managed to let go of Jou and grab the key. For a split second, he fumbled. But he worked the key in and open the chamber.

As the glass slowly opened, people ran into the lab. People in black, people with guns.

The being backed up. There were too many. He had no choice. 

He turned and ran, easily breaking through the metal cover of a nearby vent and slipping into it.

Mokuba just watched, a small smile on his face as chaos ensued around him. “Absolutely perfect.”

The police searched for the escaped being in the vents. It became clear where he'd gone as most of the metal was broken through to make for a clear path.

And, as the being felt the rush of air, he moved faster. He was almost outside. Then, he could make a run for it and regroup somewhere.

He moved out and found himself on the edge of a large building. He nearly fell in his haste. There were machines zipping around everywhere. Large machines flying passed at high speeds. This place... it was different from the world he remembered. It was overwhelming; too much for him to take in all at once.

“Sir!” 

He looked back in the vent. A man was looking back at him. One of the men in black with a large gun.

“This is the police. There is nowhere for you to go. What I need you to do is slowly and carefully come back in through the vent. Do you understand?” He spoke slowly; as if that would somehow make his language clearer.

The being just decided to walk away instead. 

He inched around the building. He knew there would have to be a way out of this. Somewhere. Anywhere.

Bright lights shone in his eyes and there was the noise of a large machine in front of him. He tried to cover his eyes as they shouted at him incoherently through a speaker.

He knew that, if he continued down this path, these 'police' would just continue to follow him. It left him with little choice.

He closed his eyes and jumped.

-

The crash into his cab was unexpected to say the very least. Yugi felt the entire car shift under the weight of the sudden impact and caused him to swerve out of control. He fought with the steering wheel and cursed under his breath as the computer chimed on about the accident as if he full-fledged slammed into another car.

When he regained control of his cab, he pulled off to the side and huffed. He leaned his head against the steering wheel. “You've got to be kidding me.” Maybe it was someone throwing something off a roof. Maybe it was a suicide jumper.

Either way, the person better pray for a quick death. If they weren't  _ already _ dead.

He turned and looked into the backseat. Behind the glass, he could see the taxi sign hanging into his cab through the newly installed large gaping hole in his ceiling. If it was an object that fell, it must've been a large chunk of building or something. Good thing he didn't have any passengers.

He flinched when a tanned hand slapped against the glass. Slowly, the mostly naked man looked up, ruby-red eyes locking onto Yugi's.

Yugi felt breathless. “Hi.”

The man ducked his head down, eyes still on Yugi's.

Yugi did his best not to look intimidating. He smiled softly. “It's okay. You're safe.” He quickly remembered the impact. “Are.. you okay?”

The man slowly eased up and grinned at Yugi. Then, he began to speak. It was the longest, most beautiful story of gibberish Yugi had ever heard.

But it ended with one word. “Thuma habatat huna mae... uh, boom.”

Yugi let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah, I think I can see 'boom.'”

The other pointed up. “Bada boom.”

“Big. Big bada boom.”

“B-Big? Bada, big, boom.” The being's eyes lit up and he smiled.

Yugi smiled back. “You're lucky you're not dead.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi saw red lights flashing. He could hear the loud sirens and he turned as his newly acquired passenger backed away from the glass and ducked his head again.

“Do not be alarmed. There is an unauthorized passenger in your vehicle. If you open your door, we can take him into custody.”

Yugi sighed through his nose and stared at the police car in disappointment. “Sorry, my friend. It looks like your real ride is here.”

The man looked at Yugi with wide, fearful eyes.

He didn't look back. He couldn't do that to himself. He just needed this man out of his cab so he could go and get the thing repaired. He had to just go about his day.

Unfortunately, the beautiful man in the back was quick to learn a phrase from some ad that flashed on under the partition. “Pl-Please... He-lp.”

Yugi looked back at the other. “I really can't risk losing any more points on my license. I have to get the cab to the shop and you have,” He glanced at the other car as it hovered closer, “other problems.”

The man shook and curled up in the seat. “Pu-pleaaze... Help.”

Yugi shook his head. Guilt pressed into his stomach. This was ridiculous; for all he knew, this man was some kind of murderer. Or, from the look of his clothing, an escaped experiment. He closed his eyes. “Sorry. I can't.” With a switch in the front, the back door slid open.

One of the officers reached in and attached a cord to anchor the cruiser to his cab. The man in the back seat pushed himself into a corner as if he were trying to melt into the cab itself. Fear built in his eyes and he glanced again to Yugi. “Help.”

Yugi gritted his teeth. Did this make him weak? He couldn't be sure. But hearing that last plea, so full of fear, was enough. If he was a murderer, maybe his victim had it coming. If he was an experiment gone rogue, they would probably bring him back to their lab and tear him apart.

That was enough to rationalize his next move.

Yugi threw the car into drive and slammed on the gas. As soon as he heard the sound of the cord snapping, he pressed a button and the door slipped back into place.

As the police pursued, he looked in his mirror and caught sight of the man. He was smiling in relief.

Yugi couldn't help but mirror the expression. Maybe he was weak but it was worth it for that smile.

He dodged the other cars in his attempt to lose the cops. In no time at all, he had two more on his tail. And with each swerve, he heard his passenger thump around in the back.

He would even occasionally cry out in his language. “'Ant nadhil majnunan!”

“You're gonna have to be quiet! I'm trying to help you here!”

“Saeidni?! Sawf taqtalini!”

He didn't even pretend he understood. With the rush of cars and the sounds of the sirens, Yugi already had a lot on his plate. Whatever this man said could wait until they were no longer in danger.

They entered a garage and Yugi drove the car down several flights before he swerved again. He dove down into more traffic and cut the wheel to turn down a less congested roadway. Then again behind a large sign. He turned off the car and watched as the cruisers sped passed.

He let out a soft sigh and sat low in his seat. “We should stay put for now and wait for things to calm down.” 

No response.

He glanced into the back seat.

The man was draped across the back seat in an almost unnatural fashion.

Yugi frowned and opened up the glass partition to climb into the back. He carefully moved over to the man and saw a pair of tired and pained eyes. The impact and car chase must have been more than he could handle. 

The eyes were slightly clouded. He could barely keep them open. “M-Mahad...”

Yugi frowned and shook his head. “I don't understand.”

“Mahad... Priest...”

“Priest?” He huffed out a laugh. “Maybe a doctor first.”

“Mahad... Please.” It was then the man's eyes rolled up in their sockets and he passed out.

Yugi just stared for a moment. It looked like he had two options here. He could go against this man and take him to a hospital where they would surely find the police. Or he could find this 'priest' and hope they have some kind of information on the guy.

Or he could sit here and just wait until the other man woke up again. If he would ever do that.

Yugi sighed.

-

The apartment was surprisingly easy to find given that the information he had to go on was nothing more than a name. Mahad, as it turned out, was far from the most common name in Domino City. Only one of which had anything to do with religious practices.

What was more surprising was the fact that, instead of being greeted by an old man with a white priest collar, he was greeted by a tall man not much older than Yugi himself. His dark hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and the kohl around his eyes was in a thick, deliberate pattern. His clothes were loose and casual with little sign of anything Yugi knew as 'priest.'

Yugi looked up at him and shifted the mostly naked man in his grip. “I'm looking for a priest?”

The man looked them up and down. “Wedding practitioners are the next building over. Congratulations.” The door shut before Yugi could speak up again.

He kicked the door wide open before it could close all the way and just walked in. “Let's try that one again. This guy's looking for a man named Mahad and the navigation said he lived here.”

The man blinked. “Yes, I'm Mahad. But I don't know him.”

“Well then you fit in with everyone else but he knows you. He doesn't have a name or ID. Just the tattoo.”

Mahad frowned and moved closer at the mention of a tattoo. With an inspection of the other's chest, his eyes fell on an inverted triangle with the eye of Horus placed in the middle. He gasped. “It's... the Pharaoh.”

Yugi watched Mahad jump back, his eyes wide. He looked as if he was surprised at the words that came out of his own mouth. 

But Yugi could only frown. “I don't know what that means.”

“Is it really possible? How could he have survived such a collision? I mean, they said he was special-”

“Hey.”

“-but is it really possible for such an impact? Why didn't the call and tell me?! I told them he would need me to be in contact with him-”

“Father, wh-”

“-and yet, here he is without anyone to translate for him or help him get acclimated to our ways! How irresponsible of-”

“Hey!”

Mahad's head snapped to the side as Yugi backhanded him. Silence filled the room. The priest slowly turned his head back to Yugi and, for a moment, looked as though he forgot he wasn't alone.

Yugi didn't wait for the question. He gestured to the couch where he'd placed the being while Mahad was busy ranting. 

Mahad strode over to the couch and stared at the man. He reached out as if he wanted to touch him but then pulled back and covered his mouth.

“He just kind of dropped in on me and kept speaking some kind of gibberish.”

He shot a look at Yugi. “It's not 'gibberish.' He speaks in the divine tongue. A language older than time itself!” He knelt down by the couch and took in the sight of the Pharaoh. “He's got an important task ahead of him.” A second later, he tensed and jumped to his feet. “I have to get the supplies and make preparations. Our time is limited.” He moved to run before he looked back at Yugi with a thought. “Wake him, please. But do so very gently. He's our universe's most perfect and precious creature.”

He watched the priest run away to get whatever he needed to get, leaving Yugi alone with the unconscious man who fell into his car.

Perfect. He called him perfect. 

And looking down at him, wrapped in nothing but the strange underwear from whatever lab he escaped from, Yugi could probably agree. 'Perfect' was definitely a good descriptor. 

He was told to wake him gently. They didn't want to startle the poor foreigner, after all. He was careful as he sat down and brushed a blond lock from his cheek. “Hey. C'mon, wake up. I don't want to leave you here like this.”

There was nothing. He stayed there, eyes closed.

Yugi glanced to where the priest ran off. No one would have to know. But maybe it would be okay...

He leaned down and pressed his lips to the stranger's. He didn't see the other's eyes slip open.

But he felt the sudden lightness of his hip. And heard the charge of his weapon as it was pressed against his temple.

“You're right. That was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry.”

“Abadaan min dun 'iidhn miniy.” He growled as he pushed the gun to Yugi's head.

“Right. Of course, right.” He couldn't understand what was being said but he was sure he got the gist. He backed away, hands up.

The other stood up as well, gun still firm in his grip. “Al'iidhn.” 

Yugi backed up and looked at the being. “Do you remember me? From the car? You crashed through my roof? 'Bada boom?'”

The glare stayed and he kept tense. “Boom?”

“Yeah! Boom, from before? I'm Yugi Mutou.” He pulled out a business card and showed it to the other. “Maybe you can call me when we speak the same language.”

The being ripped it from Yugi's hand and looked it over.

“What's your name?”

The other tilted his head.

“Your name?” Yugi placed a hand on his chest. “Yugi Mutou.” He then gestured to the other expectantly.

The being seemed to understand but he didn't break his intense glare as he spouted off his name. “Atemuakhnamkhanenhodirusyaminai.”

Yugi stared for a moment. He almost expected this perfect being with his gun to continue on with his outrageously long name. But when the other stopped, he nodded. “Okay. So... That whole thing's your name. Huh.”

Atemuakhnamkhanenhodirusyaminai stared at Yugi. His eyes darted between the other's as if searching for a trick. He wasn't understanding what Yugi was saying.

The man cleared his throat and brought up his fingers to space them only a few centimeters apart. “Do you have a shorter name?” Would he understand? 

By the look in his eyes? No. Not at all.

“Not Etamemamseiaououou.” He waved his hand around then brought it back to the fingers. “Short. Small.”

Realization appeared in the untrusting eyes. For a moment, this perfect being with his gun looked worried, almost shy. He shifted from foot to foot “...Atem?”

Atem. Perfect. It seemed to suit this perfect being much better. At least he could say it. Yugi smiled softly. “Okay. Atem.” He gestured between himself and Atem. “Atem, Yugi. Yugi, Atem.”

The gun slowly lowered and Yugi couldn't be sure but he thought he could see the very ghost of a smile on Atem's lips.

The spell was immediately broken when two people burst through the door. 

Atem turned the gun on them. Then, he let out a relieved laugh and smiled widely at Mahad and Mana.

Mahad smiled back and pulled out a giant gold key. 

Atem lowered his weapon and held it loosely at his side. He looked as though he was between collapsing back on the couch in relief or running into Mahad's arms and greeting the priest with a tight hug.

Mana didn't look nearly as impressed. She glanced to her master, unsure. “Are you sure this is him?”

Mahad's grin stayed firmly in place. He didn't look away from Atem, his eyes like a proud father at the sight of this being. “Absolutely.”

“Oh good! Friends!” Yugi moved to step closer to Atem.

The gun was back on him.

“Right, yeah.” He raised his hands again and smiled at Atem. He leaned over to the priests. “Could one of you get my gun back, please?”

Mahad moved closer. “What was your name again?”

“Yugi Mutou.” He didn't stop smiling at Atem. He gave the other a little wave with the bend of his fingers.

Mahad wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders and guided him to the door. “Thank you, Mr. Mutou but I think it would be best we take it from here. He could use his rest.”

“Yeah. He had a pretty hard fall.” Yugi paused right in the doorway. “Wait, before I go I'm just curious. What does 'A-abadaan min dun 'iidhn miniy' mean?”

Mahad blinked. He then raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “It means 'never without my permission.' Why do you ask?”

“Right. Yeah. Uh, no reason.”

Mahad's eyes narrowed. The door shut as soon as Yugi stepped back. He stared at it as the silence of the hallway took over. Regret sat heavy in his stomach.

He kissed him. He shouldn't have kissed him. He leaned his head against the door for a moment as he thought about it. As much as he wanted to stick around and learn more about Atem, he knew he wasn't welcome.

And he wasn't about to force his presence on this Atem any more than he already has.

Besides, he did have a cab to get fixed. Yugi pushed off the door and strode down the hallway. 

-

The being was far behind in the times. Being asleep for thousands of years kept him from knowing the history of the world and how much it transformed. Mahad handed him a small tablet to allow him to study up on all the information he needed. He needed to make sure Atem was prepared for the trials ahead. And that included knowing the location of the six remaining items.

Right before he'd offered Atem use of their shower, Mahad was able to get a little bit of information about the items and the stone tablet used to store them when they were dormant.

With a surprisingly casual tone, Atem stated they were stolen. 

Mana came into the room with an armful of clothing that looked to be the Pharaoh's size and a few items she knew he'd want, including a large plate of fruits and meats. As she spread out the items, she noticed the look on her master's face. The radio blared on with some kind of song in the background but neither of them paid much attention to the noise.

“Master?”

Mahad tapped a knuckle to his lips, lightyears away. There was a man who came asking at the items not too long ago. A rude man with blindingly white hair. The man had tried to convince Mahad to give up the key. He couldn't remember his name. What was it?

The bathroom door open and there was a deep, satisfied sigh followed closely by Mana's soft whisper. “By the  _ Gods _ .”

Mahad turned to see Atem using the only towel they left him to dry his hair. Which meant....

He slapped a hand over Mana's eyes. 

“They really  _ did _ made him perfect!”

Mahad ignored her and just kept his hand over her eyes. “If you wouldn't mind dressing yourself. This state of the world demands a certain amount of modesty.”

Atem looked at the clothing spread out for him and grumbled. “hadha alealam yatatalab alkthyr.”

“I know it does. But please humor us.”

He eyed a pair of tight pants and grimaced. Typically, it was far from his first pick, but he would have to trust Mahad. He pulled them on as he spoke. “alan 'akthar 'ahaminyatan,” he dug through the pile of shirts, “'ana 'aerif baldbt ayn yumkin aleuthur ealaa aleanasir.” He grabbed one of the shirts and pulled it on before moving to a small tablet on the table.

Mahad slowly released Mana.

She looked up at him. “What did he just say?”

“He said he knows exactly where the items are.”

-

Across the city was a massive corporation. One that ran nearly everything; from taxi services to building maintenance to weapon manufacturing. Its tower was one of the tallest in the world. Its president could stand at the very top and see clear across Domino. It was as if he were trying to build straight into the sky.

And maybe he was. After all, up there in space was the one person whose authority was above all.

“Mr. Bakura. Your two o' clock just called. They're pulling in right now with the contents you ordered.”

He grinned. “Fantastic. Have them meet me in the testing room with the contents.” He left immediately, ignoring the apprehensive looks from his secretary and the way everyone around him moved to stay out of his path. He knew he was intimidating; he made sure to keep everyone assuming he wouldn't hesitate to end their lives.

The only one who showed little to no fear of him was a young man who often served as his assistant. He was fun to look at and great for entertainment on colder nights, but that was about it.

And he found Malik at his side once again as he strode into the testing room. It was a group of ten dark and brutish beings. They were a warrior race.

But among the ten stood one human. He was almost pretty to look at; delicate enough to swoon many men and women.

Bakura wouldn't have that. “That face is pretty unbecoming of you, Dartz. I can't take it seriously.”

Dartz sighed and relaxed, his features melted into another brutish warrior.

Bakura smiled again. “Much better. You shouldn't be ashamed of what all the Atlantians became. You survived; be proud of that! The Glory of Atlantis still exists, just as warriors rather than boring diplomatic nerds. Now, down to business.” He snapped a finger as one of his own men handed him a weapon. “This is the T-7, completely refined and tested. Lightweight, semi-automatic with a built-in tracking system and thermal radar. It can be used in any condition on any habitable planet. And today, I have for you two crates, totaling six hundred.” 

He shot the gun a few times at a target behind him before handing it off to Dartz. “And with my end fulfilled, let me see what you got for me.”

Dartz grinned and gestured to the large crate they brought. Bakura excitedly pulled it open to reveal a giant stone tablet complete with seven shiny gold items in the inserts.

He grinned for a second before a thought hit him. Seven. There shouldn't be seven. He lifted the key out of its hole. It was much too light for something made of gold. He squeezed.

The item caved in his grip, the metal easily bending into its hollow body. “Its a fake.”

-

Atem laughed.

Mahad looked on in confusion. “Fake? What do you mean fake?”

-

“Fake.” Bakura glared at Malik and tossed the aluminum item to the floor. “As in 'not real.' As in 'not what I asked for.'” He picked up the Ring. It fell to pieces the moment it was out of its insert. “This whole thing is full of garbage!” He threw that one to the ground. He grabbed a third piece; a pyramid-shaped pendant. Almost immediately, it fell apart in his hands. Like a cheap children's toy.

It was put there to mock him.

He threw it as well before glaring at Dartz. “Did you not think to check them? Anyone want to explain what the fuck is going on here?!”

-

Atem hopped to sit on the table and popped a grape into his mouth as he explained. “Bidmjrd 'an yabda alzalam fi taiawuzina, gararat 'an 'afdal tarigatan lilhifaz ealaa al'ahya aminatan hi alta'akud min 'ana'hum In yusafirun mae alijihaz allawahii 'aw ly. Idhlk tama taklifuna bialeanayat bail'usrat-”

Mahad blinked and translated for Mana. “When the mass started to move, they decided it was best to keep the items separated from him. They were entrusted to a family-”

“-wakhasat almar'at alati kunaa naerif 'anaha satahtafiz biha baman hataa 'aewda.”

“More specifically a woman who would keep them safe until he returned.”

Atem held up a finger as his eyes scanned the tablet. “Alan, sayakun alfundug masaliat al'usbue almugbil-”

“She'll be performing at a hotel in the next week-”

“-mimma yaeni 'anani bbsatt vib 'an 'ajida almawgie waruyatah.” His legs swung as he popped another grape in his mouth.

“He just has to find the location and meet with her.” Mahad relaxed and looked at Mana. “Seems simple enough.”

A few more moments of scanning and Atem tapped on a large ship floating in space. “Hnak.”

The information popped up about it. It was the Kingdom Cruise-liner.

Mana looked at it with a frown. “Security will be tight on that thing. They always have so many parties going on.”

Atem didn't look all that concerned. His attention was caught by a plastic eye mask sitting on the table. He put it up to his eyes and flinched when kohl was applied to his lids in an instant. He then continued to busy himself with a few pieces of jewelry mixed in with the clothing.

_ “And now the winner of this year's Kingdom Cruise contest; Yugi Mutou!” _

The name immediately connected with Mahad. He remembered in a flash the taxi driver who had come with their savior only hours before. The one who left his number and address on a card with Atem.

It looked like luck was very much on their side.

-

Bakura was most likely the unluckiest person in the world. In the entire universe, maybe. Here he stood with seven shitty copies and a stone tablet he already cracked simply by stepping on its face. The only way this could be any more of a punch to the gut is if the Pharaoh came out of the tablet to scream out horrible insults about his mother.

And yet... 

“You never mentioned checking the items. We brought you the stone.”

“The stone is a fake piece of shit filled with other fake pieces of shit! And you idiots dragged it all the way here!”

“We know nothing about relics. How were we supposed to know of their quality?”

“Are you fucking serious?!” he gestured to the pieces on the ground. “You didn't even touch them. Your giant meaty hands should have broken at least one! And when it did, it might occur to your little pea brain that something that fragile couldn't possibly exist for thousands of years!” He snarled and backed off to shout at his own men. “Pack everything up! We get nothing, they get nothing!”

Dartz didn't like that. He grabbed hold of Bakura's neck and lifted him off the ground. When Bakura's men moved to protect their boss, Dartz's men positioned their weapons to fire.

“We risked our lives for that tablet. You will give us the weapons for the contents you gained.”

Bakura gripped the arm on his neck and narrowed his eyes at Dartz. When he was pushed away, he rubbed at his neck, eyes still narrowed but a smile came over his face. “That took some guts. I'll give you that.” He eyed the tablet. “Fine. Leave the crates.” And with that, Bakura walked out with his dumbfounded group following behind.

Malik trotted to keep up with Bakura's stride as they walked down the hall. They walked in silence for a moment.

“You know, I can really appreciate how dangerous Dartz and his people can be. But they do have one very exploitable weakness.” He walked outside as he pulled a small black detonator from his pocket. “They are so horrible gullible.” He pressed the button.

The building shook as a loud boom could be heard from within. 

Bakura tossed the remote to the ground. “It looks like I just committed a great sin. I think I need to see my priest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atem has entered the picture!  
Atem Translations:  
"'iismah li. 'ana bihajat lilkuruj min huna".- Excuse me. I need to get out of here.  
"Hal yastatie 'aya ahd musaeadati? Hal yafham 'ahad?”- Can anyone help? Does anyone understand?  
"'Ant nadhil majnunan!"- You crazy bastard!  
"Saeidni?! Sawf taqtalini!”- Help me?! You’ll kill me!  
"hadha alealam yatatalab alkthyr"- This world requires a lot  
"alan 'akthar 'ahamiyatan" -now, more important  
"'ana 'aerif baldbt 'ayn yumkin aleuthur ealaa aleanasir"- I know exactly where the items can be found  
(The long story and what he says to Yugi are translated nearly verbatim by Mahad. the only difference is he refers to the mass as 'the Darkness.')


	3. Chapter 3

“You're late.”

Yugi frowned at Honda as he got out of his cab. “I wasn't aware you were timing me.”

“Well, I was.” His friend looked at the car and raised an eyebrow. “You mind telling me who felt the need to give you a sunroof? I mean, I knew you weren't the best driver, but...”

He rubbed the back of his head as he thought about the one who created the new addition. The beautiful story of gibberish, the smile, the eyes. “Let's just say, I think I may have come across perfection on the way here.”

“That's a steel roof, Yugi. Was 'perfection' a boulder aimed to kill you?” He climbed into the back seat and began taking notes on the roof.

“More like a five-foot, tanned skinned angel with a smile powered by the sun.”

“Jeez, and everyone thought  _ I _ was easily swayed by a woman. She got a name?”

“He. And Atem.”

Honda laughed. “Well, your love-at-first-sight boulder's gonna cost a bit of time and money to fix. Hopefully, you'll still have a job by the end of this.”

“This is hardly my fault.”

“Did you file a police report on it?”

“Uhhh.” He glanced at the cab where a bit of the wire from the police cruiser still hung.

Honda sat up in the seat. “Is Mr. Perfection somewhere where he can vouch for you?”

“Ummmm....” Possibly alien creature he practically stole from the cops didn't make for a decent witness. “He's.... very foreign.”

Honda raised an eyebrow again. “Were there any other witnesses?”

Did the police who chased him count as witnesses? Yugi rubbed the back of his head.

“Could we find a translator for your boyfriend?”

The priest slamming the door in his face came to mind. Yugi shrugged. “I guess it was a boulder?”

Honda looked at him flatly and sighed. “Then I'll ignore the dirty handprint on the partition window. Let's just get to fixing it.” He stood up and turned to the car again. “It might take a few days to do this and get the actual maintenance check underway. In the meantime, I have a loaner you can use.”

Yugi nodded. “Thanks, Honda.” He grabbed the keys from Honda and moved to leave.

“Oh. And, Major?”

Yugi turned back.

“When you see your perfect boulder again, tell him he owes me big time.”

-

Mahad barely got outside when a black bag was thrown over his head. He only wanted to go out and get a few supplies for their mission. He needed to get an ID for Atem, he needed to figure out a plan of action for obtaining the cruise tickets, he needed to get everything prepared at the old ruins.

He didn't have time to be kidnapped. Of course, his captors didn't care about that. He didn't know how many there were or else he might try to fight back. Instead, he opted to wait for his moment as his hands were handcuffed behind his back and he was thrown into the backseat of a car. Atem and Mana were safe; they would know better than to let anyone in. And even if someone did get in, he trusted the sentient weapon that was the Pharaoh would stop it all.

It felt like days passed when he was pushed into a chair and the hood was taking off his head. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light as he took in the sight of the giant office.

And there, leaning against the desk was a man with blindingly white hair. “Hello, Father!”

Mahad's lip curled. “It's you.”

“It's me.” Bakura pushed off his desk as his men took the cuffs off Mahad. “Listen, we're both very busy men. So I'm just gonna come right out with it.” His friendly tone melted in an instant and his expression turned cold. “The items. Where are they?”

Mahad was unintimidated as he rubbed his wrist. “Do you really think I'd tell you if I knew?”

“If you were smart, you would.”

Mahad raised an eyebrow at him but kept his mouth firmly shut.

Bakura continued to stare at him. “You know, I thought a man in the cleric would have less judgmental eyes.”

“You confuse me with a different religious practice. Now, if this is all you have to say, I must take my leave.” He moved to stand up.

Bakura gripped his shoulder and forced him back in the chair. When he did so, his men left the room and the doors locked behind them. “We're not done here. You see, I think you know more than you let on. And I think it would be in everyone's best interest if you filled me in on your little secrets.”

“Right. Because you look out for the greater good here at Zorc Industries. How many of your weapons are out on the streets again?”

That made Bakura chuckle. He returned to his desk. “You know, you can pretend to be all high and mighty with your gods and your prophecies, but when it comes down to it? You and I have the same goal.”

“You can't be serious.”

“Deadly serious, my friend. We both have the need to give life meaning.”

“We're not friends. Also, last I checked, you are more in the business of  _ ending _ life.”

“And what better way to give meaning than to cause a little bit of destruction and chaos? While you protect a peaceful existence, I bring a true livelihood to the world.” He walked over to a minibar near his desk. “Would you like a drink?”

Mahad stood up. “No.”

As Bakura picked up a glass, he smiled and pointed at Mahad. “You see, even something as meaningless as a simple drink can bring about more to life than what you serve.” He dropped the full glass. It shattered against the floor, the alcohol making a mess of the tile.

Instantly, a small autonomous cleaning crew came out of the walls.

“Look at this, Father. If it wasn't for a little chaos, these machines would be built for no reason other than to sit around and look pretty. And what would the creators of these machines do? They'd be put out of business without a need for their skills. And wouldn't that just ruin their thirst for life?” He stirred a second drink as they watched the little robots get rid of all the evidence. 

As they all disappeared, Bakura smirked and dropped a large cherry into his glass. “So, when it really comes down to it, you and I are two sides to the same coin. Hell, I might even go so far as to say we're the same side.” He raised his glass with a grin and shot back his drink. He caught the cherry in his teeth and crushed it roughly.

The pit then shot downward and lodged itself in his throat.

Mahad watched as Bakura's face went from smug to horrified. His color started to change to a soft blue.

The priest felt a bit smug as he remembered the locking door. “And what about the machine to save you from the chaos? Does one exist?” He walked a little closer and crossed his arms. “Maybe you're trying to give your drink meaning?”

Bakura stumbled and gripped at his neck. He leaned against his desk.

“You see, you build your entire life assuming you are above. But your zest for life could be cut just as short as mine. All the things you built, the chaos you hold so dear, demolished by a small piece of fruit.” Mahad gave Bakura a few hard smacks on the back. He was almost reluctant to save the arrogant bastard.

But he was here to protect all lives. Even scum.

The pit flew out of Bakura's throat. He sucked in a few needy breaths and coughed as Mahad stood up straight.

Mahad smirked. “Now, is that all? I am a very busy man, after all.” He didn't ask anymore. He moved around Bakura's desk and unlocked the door.

“This isn't over.” Bakura's hoarse voice called after him.

Mahad just kept walking. “I don't doubt it.”

-

The small fly mic wasn't the best for sound, but at least it would get Malik what he needed so long as he stayed on the wall of the office. He listened in closely.

“'Ey, Kaiba.”

“'Mr. President,' General. You're on the clock; don't act so informal.”

“Whatever. We didn't find the items in the wreckage.” Jounouchi let out a soft chuckle and looked at the president. “Seems to me these guardians were smart and had no intention of trusting the human race.”

“Spare me the preaching, Jounouchi. What were we able to find?”

Malik had an idea on what they were able to find. He knew his family had some involvement in this. His sister always had to act as some kind of martyr. She was involved in this somehow. But, he could make sure his suspicions were accurate. No need to jump the gun and assume.

“The ship's computer gave us the information about a woman named Ishizu Ishtar. No doubt she's the one they trusted with the items. She's going to be performing on the Kingdom Cruise tomorrow night. She'll have the items with her.”

That was all the information Malik needed. Now, he just needed to pass it on to Bakura.

The president and his general were none the wiser on what information was leaked. Instead, the leader just nodded and stared at Jounouchi. “We'll need your best man on this mission; no scene, no mess. Someone who can get in and out.”

Jounouchi grinned. “I know just the guy.”

The eyes stayed locked onto his as the realization came over his features. “No...”

“Yep.”

“You can't possibly think he can handle this.”

“It's too late. I already sent out the invite.” Jounouchi turned and walked toward the door. “I'll go inform him of his new mission now!” He would not give Kaiba the chance to argue this.

He knew no one would be able to handle this better.

-

The day was exhausting. All Yugi wanted to do was to flop down on his bed and sleep until next week. But then, as if they could sense him, his phone rang as soon as he walked in.

He should've been paying closer attention to the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Oh, so you finally decide to pick up. Thank you for granting me access to your voice.”

Yugi had to fight the urge to sigh. “Hey, Grandpa.”

“You know, there was a time you would call me every day to just let me know you were still alive and well. Why did that stop? What happened to you?”

“Life has something to do with that.” He opened the door to let the cat back outside. “You know, it's been a long day. Maybe we can skip the guilt trip for now?”

“What guilt trip? I'm just saying it wouldn't kill you to give me a call every now and then. Here I am, in the freezing tundra, and you can't even bother with me anymore.”

“You chose to move out there. I told you it was a bad idea.”

“Yeah, well, I could really use a vacation. Maybe some cruise.” He allowed for a pause before adding, “hint hint.”

Yugi furrowed his brows at the phone. “Do you really think I have the money to send you out on any vacation, much less a cruise?”

“Oh, so you're going to keep it all to yourself? That's just fine. After I raised you and protected you.”

“Grandpa, what the Hell are you talking about?”

“Don't pretend you don't know! Your name has been all anyone could talk about for the last hour! The Kingdom Cruise contest? Pegasus?”

Yugi continued to stare at the phone. He never even entered that thing. “If I won anything, I would've been notified.”

“And the people on the radio isn't enough of a notification for you, oh Great King Yugi? Do you need it to be presented before you by a knight in shining armor?”

Yugi opened his mouth to respond only to be interrupted by a buzz on his door. He groaned and walked to the door. What now? 

He looked through the camera and relaxed at the sight of Jounouchi. “Grandpa, I'm gonna have to call you back. I have some guests.” He didn't give his grandfather enough time to argue before he hung up and opened the door.

Jounouchi smiled at his old friend. “Hey, buddy.” He held up a handful of envelopes. “I got your mail for you.”

Yugi stepped out of the way for Jou to walk in. Behind his friend were two other people, a man and a woman who stayed pretty quiet. “What brings you by? Did Honda badger you to come get me out?”

“No, actually. I'm here to talk to you about something more important.” Jou looked at the different trophies on display around the apartment. A few were metals from the military while the heavier ones were back from Yugi's days as a gamer. Both of which he knew the other worked to put behind him. But...

“And what is that?”

“It's a mission to save the world.”

Yugi crossed his arms and snorted. “You know what I'm going to say, right?”

“Yugi. Buddy. To this day you're still one of the best both with a gun and with diplomacy. And this mission is a pretty sensitive one so I need your... finesse.” Jou handed him a brightly colored envelope. “You might wanna open that one. It's probably pretty important.”

Yugi didn't have to open it to know what it was. And, as soon as he did, confetti exploded from the letter and there was the sound of a crowd cheering. And there it read itself:

“You've won an all-expense-paid trip on the Kingdom Cruise for two!”

Yugi looked up at Jounouchi. “You rigged the contest.”

Jou grinned. “Congratulations. You'll be escorted by Mai here. She'll pose as your wife.”

Mai smiled and winked at Yugi. “I look forward to it.”

Yugi wanted to tell Jounouchi he wasn't doing this no matter how attractive the person acting as his partner. He didn't want to go on a mission; there was a reason he retired. He wanted to just live his calm life as a cab driver and just-

The buzzing door interrupted his thoughts again. He looked at the camera and his heart skipped a beat.

Atem was crouched down in front of his door, petting the little cat.

“Who is it?”

Yugi stepped in front of the camera. He wanted to answer truthfully but remembering Jounouchi's position in the government and Atem's current position of being illegal froze his tongue. The lie slipped a little too easily. “It's... my boyfriend.”

“You didn't tell me you were dating again.” He sounded a little hurt.

“W-well, he's not there yet but... I really like this guy. We get along really well but he,” he had to think quickly, “he hates the military. He knows it was the reason Anzu left and he wants nothing to do with it!” The panic almost felt real. “If he sees you here, it'll ruin my chances with him completely!”

“He'll have to find out about this eventually, right? I mean, we are buds.”

“I know! But, it's still too new! This could scare him away forever. Please, Jou, you've gotta hide!”

“Yugi, you know I got your back but... hide where? There's nowhere for us to go.”

Yugi looked around and his eyes settled on his fridge. It was big and deep enough for the three to fit in. He was sure of it.

He opened the door.

“Are you kidding?! We could freeze in there!”

“It'll only be a minute, I swear.” He guided them all in and forced the door shut. As soon as they were completely out of sight, he composed himself, straightened out his clothes and hair, then opened the door.

Atem smiled at him and gave him a wave. “Marhabaan.”

A small smile pulled at Yugi's lips as he waved back. “Hey.”

Then he found his gun in his face. Behind the trigger was an uncomfortable-looking Mahad. Clearly, the priest had never held a gun before, much less pointed it at another human being. He slowly walked forward as Yugi backed up. “I apologize with how abrupt this may appear but, I promise we have very good reason for our actions. We need your tickets for the cruise.”

Atem pressed the button near the entrance and jumped when the door slammed shut.

The two stayed focused on each other. “Safe to assume this is a 'world-saving' thing rather than 'Mahad needs a vacation?'” Yugi tilted his head. He could see bags under the priest's eyes he was pretty sure weren't there within the day since they saw each other. Maybe Mahad could use a vacation.

But they both knew this wasn't that moment. “This is a 'world-saving' thing, yes.”

“Well, just giving them up isn't an option.”

“I'm not here to play games, Yugi. Please, don't make me hurt you.”

Yugi sighed. “Mahad, listen-”

It was then sirens began to go off in the building. It was a loud, high pitched squeal designed to awaken even the heaviest of sleepers. 

Which made it horrible for people already awake. And possibly even worse for a creature like Atem, who jumped at the sound and covered his ears like they were being attacked.

Yugi just dropped his arms and threw his head back. What else could go wrong today?

_ “Do no panic! This is the police! Would everyone please place your hands on the walls and speak clearly for our officers!” _

There was no time to worry about what they wanted. Yugi already had three government officials in his freezer, an unregistered alien life form in his living space, and a priest with a gun in his face. He needed to hide them now.

Quickly, he guided Atem into the shower. The area wasn't much quieter than the rest of his apartment, but it was definitely the safest and most secure. “Just stay here until I come and get you, okay?”

Atem opened his mouth to speak but a large partition came down to block his view.

Next, Yugi dealt with Mahad. He was at least legally allowed to be on the planet, but it was probably for the best that a man harboring an alien wasn't found trying to rob someone at gunpoint.

He pushed Mahad into a shallow closet where Yugi held all the guns he'd taken from other failed robbery attempts.

Yugi pointed at him. “Keep your mouth shut and don't touch anything.”

“But-” The door slammed closed, just barely scraping Mahad's nose.

Yugi threw his hands onto the wall just in time for the police to get to the door. He knew they could see into his apartment with their camera. If they saw anything suspicious, they would then burst in and take the law into their own hands.

Yugi didn't really feel like messing with the police so he could only hope his guests would stay quiet.

“Sir! Are you classified as human?”

“Negative. I am a meat popsicle.” But they couldn't do anything about sarcastic comments. So long as he was cooperative to everything else.

He could hear the heavy boots walking up and down the hall. He could hear them stop at his neighbor's door where they called out his name. “Mr. Mutou, please put your hands on the wall.”

“Ya'll can go fuck yourselves!”

He winced at that. Then again at the sounds of police breaking open the man's door and dragging him out of the apartment.

As the sirens faded and they were all thanked for their cooperation, Yugi pushed off the wall and frowned. He heard the police say his name. Why did they say his name?

He shook it off and headed to the bathing area to let Atem out.

And there the perfect being stood, soaked and shivering. The kohl from his eyes ran down his cheeks and the weight of the water pressed his stubborn locks down against his head and around his face.

Yugi felt bad for wanting to laugh at how adorable he looked. The guilt set in quickly. “I'm so sorry. I forgot to turn off the auto-wash.” With the amount of pressure the water used, he was surprised Atem wasn't flat against the wall of the shower. 

He picked up a towel and wrapped it around Atem's shivering form.

“Au-auto... wash-sh-sh-sh.” He shivered as Yugi brushed the hair away from his eyes. He leaned a little closer as Yugi's arms wrapped around him and rubbed against the towel. The other was warm.

Yugi was all too happy to help Atem gain some body warmth back as he moved the towel from his shoulders to his head. He used a side of the towel to wipe the kohl from his cheek and smiled. “You know, this is kinda nice. It's the second time we've seen each other and both times, I got to hold you.” Maybe he shouldn't be thinking like this. This was a being that might not even really be capable of feeling anything close to love. He could be setting himself up for failure.

But that didn't stop him from wanting to help the poor thing as his teeth started chattering.

Soon, reality settled in as Yugi heard a thump from inside a wall. “What was that?”

There was another one, harder and more desperate this time.

“M-M-Mah-had-d...”

Right! He completely forgot!

Yugi jumped away from Atem and moved to the closet. Somehow, the priest's robes became tangled in a few of the guns, a few of the more pointy weapons dug into his sides. To make matters worse, a few of them could possibly have a hair-trigger response.

Yugi untangled Mahad from the closet as carefully as possible. When he finally got him out, Mahad released a breath of relief. He turned to Yugi, ready to let him know exactly how he felt about being shoved in a closet full of live weapons when he noticed something else.

Yugi turned to see what caught Mahad's attention then immediately turned back away, his face heated. Atem had taken to peeling off his wet clothes and wringing them out himself.

Yugi cleared his throat and looked at the priest. “Would you like a drink? Maybe some coffee?”

“Coffee would be fantastic. Thank you.”

With his back still turned to the perfect being, Yugi shuffled over to the coffee maker. As much as he wanted to stand there and appreciate the other's form, it felt wrong to do it now. When there was still something so strangely innocent about Atem.

Meanwhile, Mahad caught sight of the tickets to the cruise. Right next to them was a heavy-looking trophy from a card game tournament. He touched it and found the piece was solid. He didn't want to resort to these actions, but he really had little choice. The world needed them.

As soon as Atem had his pants back on, he scooped up the tickets and stuffed them in his pocket. Then, he grabbed the trophy.

“What're you doing?”

Mahad jumped and looked up at Yugi. 

He was standing there with two mugs of coffee and a raised eyebrow.

The priest thought quickly. “Uh... I didn't take you for a game enthusiast.”

Yugi relaxed just a fraction. “Yeah, I played a lot when I was a kid. You know anything about it?”

“A little. The priesthood leaves very little time for-” he turned his head to something behind Yugi. “Don't do that! You'll fall out the window!”

Yugi turned to see what Atem was doing out of fear the other was in danger. His mind didn't even get time to process where Atem was standing when the trophy came down hard on his head.

Mahad grabbed Atem by the arm and ran from the room with the other in tow.

“Hal ymkn 'an takun gad gatalah!” Atem trotted to keep up with Mahad's long stride.

“He'll be fine! A little bump on the head won't be enough to kill him!” He could only hope Yugi would stay down for a little longer. They needed to get away as quickly as possible. “Our mission is more important than one life anyway.”

“Kl alhayat muhimat, Mahad.” Atem frowned at him disapprovingly.

It was almost enough to make Mahad rethink his decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atem Translation:  
“Marhabaan”- Hi  
“hal ymkn 'an takun qad qatalah!”- You could have killed him!  
“kl alhayat muhimat , Mahad”- All life is important, Mahad


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm now adding the Atem translations to the endnotes if you wanna know what he's saying! :D

With Yugi Mutou arrested, all Malik would have to do is take the poor idiot's place on that cruise. He would go in, find his sister, get the items, and get out. It was quick and easy. No fuss, no muss.

The one problem would be the reunion but he was sure that wouldn't be a problem. He killed their father; what was to stop him from killing another family member.

Maybe things were finally coming together. Bakura didn't often listen to the radio but as soon as he heard about those tickets, he knew what he needed to do. And now, he would be able to get those items and take control. Just as he was told to do.

He would not lose this. He could not lose this.

-

Yugi came to hours later. He had a horrible headache and his best friend was partially glaring at him while pressing a small ice pack against his head. 

Right in the spot where..... Oh, that  _ prick _ !

Yugi hissed and pulled away from the cold press.

“You know, I should be pissed that you shoved me in a freezer,” Jou pulled back. “But, it looks like your relationship with your boyfriend isn't doing all that well.”

Yugi sat up and touched his head gingerly. “It's not his fault. He had a friend with him.”

“Tell me who he is and we can take him down for old time sake.” 

From the smile on Jou's face, Yugi could tell he meant it. Even after all the years of growing together and fighting side by side, the blond looked at him as a person to protect. If it were anyone else, he might be offended. But this man spent the better part of their lives acting as a brother; it was to be expected. 

Someone  _ did _ rob him and leave him bleeding on his apartment floor, after all. It didn't matter if he had the most beautiful man in the universe in tow. What mattered more is  _ why _ he did it.

“I'll take the mission.”

Jounouchi looked surprised for a moment. “Really? That's what you wanna talk about right now?” He gestured to Yugi's head. “That trophy carved off a chunk of skin!”

“It'll heal.” He winced as Mai applied a bandaid to the spot. “But I'm going alone. No offense to you, Ms. Mai.”

She smiled and waved it off.

“I just... I'll be better on my own. You need someone with finesse. I can do that.”

“And what about your new friends?”

“We can deal with them later. The world's more important than a little concussion.” Yugi stood up and locked his legs in place as he pretended the act alone didn't make him dizzy.

Jounouchi sighed at the sight but nodded. “You got a point.” He handed Yugi the boarding pass. “We'll need to hurry. Your plane leaves in an hour.”

Yugi smiled and took it from Jou. He could guess who might be there trying to steal his identity. “I'll drive.”

-

Mahad felt as though the adrenaline from slamming that trophy on Yugi's head would fade as soon as they made it out of the building. But hours later, the three strode into the airport with little more than their stolen tickets and a few fake IDs. He pulled them out of his pocket and looked it over.

Right on the front, in big bold letters, read Atem Mutou, complete with Yugi's address and a photo. He had never needed to get something like this made so he could only hope the man who made it wasn't lying when he said it was just like any other identification.

He handed it to Atem, who beamed at the sight of it. 

“Multipass!” Atem pointed at the thick card in his hand.

Mahad turned to Mana and handed her one as well. Hers was a little different. It was simply a copy of her own with Yugi's information programmed in temporarily. Once it was used a few times, the file would be overridden and it would return to her old ID. There would be no way of this tracing back to her; neither of them had the advantages of being able to create a life from scratch like Atem. “As soon as you two get onto the ship, locate the items and get in contact with me.”

Mana gripped her ID tightly and nodded. He could tell she was only one mistake away from sheer panic. “Right, yeah.”

Atem frowned at Mana. “Mana sayakun Yugi Mutou?” He turned his frown to Mahad. “'Anak satakun Yugi Mutou.”

“Oh no, I can't pretend to be Yugi; I have to go and prepare everything at the temple.” He watched the frown deepen and put his hands on Atem's shoulders. “You'll both be fine. Mana's been training by my side since she was a child. She'll be able to help you just as well as I could. Trust me.”

The frown lightened. He knew Mahad was right. Someone would need to go to the temple and open the door in preparation for the items. There was no doubt they were beginning to lose time simply by standing here and talking about it. So, Atem gave him a soft smile and nodded. “Okay.” 

He watched carefully as they went to check-in for the flight. He trusted them to do what was needed but there still sat a pang of worry. Something in his gut told him this wasn't the way it should go but he wasn't sure what could be waiting for them at the temple. If he wasn't so worried about someone else making an appearance, he would have switched the position and allowed Mana to go in his place.

They would still have a few days, which meant a few days for someone else to prepare to get them all killed. As for right now, it was imperative for the two to get to that cruise. His life has gotten so intense in just a day.

He could use a drink.

-

He barely waited for the car to stop before he hopped out with one last wave to Jounouchi. No doubt the general would be returning to the president's side in order to fill him in on what's going on. No doubt Mr. President would spend the time between now and the potential world end so tense it was possible he could create diamonds with the pressure from his jaw alone. And Yugi wanted to say he cared about the end of the world. He really did. But, he also kinda wanted to find Mahad and shove that trophy up his-

An unmistakable spiky-haired head caught his eyes and redirected his thoughts. With him, Yugi could see Mana nervously pushing her pass into the computer. He was just in range to hear the woman behind the counter.

“Yugi Mutou?” The woman raised an eyebrow as a clearly male name popped up to describe the clearly female client in front of her.

Mana tensed her shoulders and prepared to look offended. “Y-yeah?” She asked, challengingly.

The woman tensed as well but covered it with a smile. “Congratulations on winning the contest.”

Mana let out a breath and nodded. It was hard for her to not look too relieved. “Thank you.”

It was then Atem glanced over and caught Yugi's eye. “Hsan!” He turned to Mana but continued to point at Yugi. “Laqad eash.”

Yugi didn't have time to ask what Atem said. Right now, he had to right a major wrong. He grabbed hold of Mana's shoulder and tugged her back. “Whoo! I made it!”

Mana looked at him and nearly choked. She coughed and sputtered.

Yugi just continued speaking with a sweet grin on his face. “I was so afraid I wasn't going to make this flight so I asked my friend uhhh,” he pulled out her ID and looked at it, “Mana, to get me all situated and ready for boarding!”

“But I-”

“But now Mana has to go!” Yugi turned and smiled at Mana. Something about the smile sent chills down her spine. It was as if the temperature in the area hit freezing immediately. “Don't you?” The words were laced with a very different meaning. One much more hostile.

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I do!”

“Thank you! Thank Mahad for me too.” As she stumbled away, Yugi turned and pulled out his ID. “ _ I  _ am Yugi Mutou.” He stuck it into the slot.

The woman, who watched the entire exchange in stunned silence, shook it off and looked at the second passenger. “And who it this?”

For a moment, Atem said nothing. It was almost as if he were performing in a show and forgot it was his turn to act. Then, he lifted his ID for the woman to see. “Atem Mutou Multipass.”

Both Yugi and the woman stared at him for a moment. A smile spread across Yugi's face at both the seriousness on Atem's face and the wonderful gift Mahad had given him for this trip.

“Multipass.” He repeated a little softer as if the word felt weird in his mouth.

Yugi chuckled softly. “Yeah, this is Atem Mutou. My husband.” He gently took the ID from Atem and put it in the slot. “We're newlyweds. This is kinda a honeymoon for us. We met and it was like soulmates meeting-”

“Mul. Ti. Pass!”

“-Yeah! It's a multipass!” He placed it back into Atem's hands and grinned at the lady again. “Anyway, we're in love.”

-

He couldn't help but be worried. Even as he sat at the bar, drinking away the concerns and frustrations. There was still a thought in the back of his mind. Something wasn't quite right.

He knew they would be fine. Atem was strong enough to defend against just about anything. He survived a horrible accident that would have killed anyone else, after all! But... there was also something very brittle about him. And, thinking about it now, he wasn't sure Mana saw that side of the supreme being like he did.

Maybe it was a mistake to send Mana. Maybe he should have gone himself. But... it was too late to take that back now. By now, they were surely already well past the gate and on their way to their bunks.

Someone sat down next to him awkwardly. He was afraid to look.

“Sooo, uh, Master?”

Mahad covered his face with both hands to muffle the groan.

Mana winced and looked at him apologetically. “Yugi showed up. And... he has this way of just...” She stared off as she thought about what just happened, “staring into your soul. I kinda thought he might kill me.”

“It's not your fault, Mana. This was my mission. I should have taken him there.” Mahad stood up and turned to his student. “You go back to the apartment and gather all our things. We'll meet you at the temple.” He strode away. His walk quickly turned into a sprint.

Mana blinked and stood up, stopping just short of chasing him. “You won't be able to get on!”

It was too late. He couldn't hear her.

The bartender shot her a look. “Your friend didn't pay his tab.”

She sighed. Of course, he didn't.

-

Yugi tried his best to focus on the mission at hand. This was an end of the world problem, after all. He couldn't afford to get distracted. But, still, his eyes would continue to wander over to Atem. The other looked almost as though he didn't have a care in the world. Maybe it was a language barrier. Maybe he was just very good at hiding his true feelings.

Although, the gun to his head when he kissed him without permission kinda argued for the other side.

It was important to remember this was his mission too. Even if he looked as though there was nothing concerning him. It was possible he'd been trained for this since birth so a world-ending problem was just another Tuesday to Atem.

As they stopped at another checkpoint, the woman read his name and gasped. “Oh! Mr. Mutou! Good! Mr. Crawford has to see you and discuss all the ins and outs of being on his show.” She dragged Yugi away before he could argue or even process what he said.

Atem blinked and watched as Yugi was dragged off. Before his curiosity could peak into following after them, another employee walked up to him. “Sir?”

He turned and raised his ID. “Multipass.”

Meanwhile, Yugi was still being dragged down the hall. He growled and gripped his heel into the floor to keep from being pulled another step.

The attendant turned to him in confusion.

“Listen, I know you're just doing your job but I would really like a nice, calm vacation. None of the glimmer and glam of-”

The music blared over speakers Yugi didn't know existed. A second later, he slid in through the door, dressed completely in a shiny, retina-burning white suit. His signature white hair was partially in his face and, unlike the rest of him, perfectly straight. He carried a cane which only served to act as a microphone for the host. Many people thought the whole look was almost princely.

Yugi was feeling more Willy Wonka reject.

“Ah! There he is! This year's Kingdom Cruise Winner; Yugi Mutou!” He screamed it out as if he were trying to send the message to the people at home without the use of the radio. He sauntered up, his eyes on Yugi and no one else. “Ohhhh, this boy is  _ hot _ ! If only all you ladies at home could see what I'm seeing.”

Yugi was nearly blinded by the sudden flash of cameras. Around him, the music blared and Pegasus began talking nonsense. “And now you can with our exclusive pass! You can see me and my new friend in all our glory! The Perfection! The Glam! The amazing nights of passion!” He babbled on and on.

Yugi had half-listened to the show enough to know this was common. It was as if he were speaking a language only certain people could understand.

He wondered where Atem was now.

He was snapped from his thoughts when the mic was shoved in his face. He looked around to everyone watching expectantly. They were waiting for him to answer a question he didn't remember being asked. “Uhhh, what?”

“Oh my! He's adorable!” The mic was pulled away and the music blared again. “I guess we'll have to find out later. Seems our Yugi-boy wants to keep a couple of secrets!” Pegasus winked at him. “But that never lasts long in the presence of Pegasus J. Crawford!”

Yugi just wanted it to stop. He just wanted to get to his station for take off. He just-

And just as abruptly as it began, the show shut down. There was a different type of tension in the air as everyone fawned over Pegasus.

“You were brilliant, Mr. Crawford!”

“It was absolutely transcendent! The best show of your career!”

Pegasus rolled his eyes and sighed. “Every show is the best one of my career. What was so great about this one?”

Yugi could only watch as the blood drained from all of their faces. The terror of somehow insulting Pegasus was clear in their expressions as they all stammered and stumbled over themselves in an attempt to take back the words.

But that didn't last long. The radio host waved his hand dismissively. When they didn't get it right away, he made a buzzing noise and chased them off.

Then, he stared at Yugi. It was almost as if he were trying to figure out what was going on in the other's head.

He walked up. “Now that.... was a  _ terrible _ performance! Where is your sense of drama?! Where was your energy?! Your fire?!” He put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. “Now, you and I are going to be very close on this ship and I will not have a salty little punk ruin my show! So, how about tomorrow, you brush up on your public speaking and stop acting like you're going to a funeral, mkay?” He gave Yugi a condescending smile. A smile Yugi was sure worked on just about everyone before him.

But he doubted Pegasus knew what he was getting into.

Pegasus shrieked as he was flipped over Yugi's shoulder and pinned to the ground by his neck. Yugi squeezed and glared at him. “I'm not here to be one of your little radio puppets. So here's how everything's  _ really _ going to go. You'll do your radio thing all you want, but my participation in it is at a bare minimum. Agreed?”

“...Agreed.”

Yugi released him and headed down the hall. Now, he needed to get on the plane.

-

He was guided to his little pod pretty quickly. He'd been on these types of flight before; the last time being his actual honeymoon. The sleep chambers cut down the need to feed any of the passengers or worry about too much movement during the flight. Sure, it didn't work for everyone, but it was enough to cut down on costs.

He thanked the flight attendant and slid in next to his travel-mate.

Atem looked up from his tablet and smiled at Yugi. “Hello.”

Yugi blinked. “Oh, so you-”

Atem nodded. “Yes. I learn.” He gestured to the little tablet in front of him.

It was still a little broken and he probably didn't know too much, but it would be enough. Yugi nodded. “Atem, this is a very important mission. The Earth could be in danger and there could be a lot of death if we don't succeed. Do you understand?”

Atem nodded. “Yes. But you? No worry. Me,” he pointed to himself, “The Pharaoh. Supreme being. I protect you.”

Yugi blinked. He couldn't really process how quickly all of that turned around.

Atem nodded to him. “Sleep.”

A moment later, the flight attendant stepped over and smiled at Yugi. “Goodnight, Mr. Mutou.”

“Wait! I just-” A second later, he was out cold.

-

He didn't like what he had to do. Maybe he shouldn't have sent Malik on this mission. He should have sent someone else. Anyone else.

But he trusted Malik to get it done. All he needed to do was get on that plane and find the diva. He just needed to get to her and take the items then return to Bakura back in Domino.

But then the phone call came in.

“We were too late.”

“...what?” He heard him loud and clear. He knew the plane was already scheduled to take off. That was something else to piss him off. Had Malik been quicker with the phone call, they could have prevented take off and find a way onto the ship in the ensuing chaos. Now? There was no way for them to board.

And as Malik explained, Bakura's rage escalated. He liked Malik; he really did. He'd been a great companion in just about every way. But he couldn't tolerate failure. So, somewhere in the airport, there was a horrible explosion. The explosion would take not only his life, but possibly the lives of several other passengers. Maybe innocent people. The news would think it was a suicide bomber.

Only Bakura would know the truth. And he would have to push that truth aside as he thought up a Plan B. And he had to do that before-

“Um, sir?”

Bakura stared at the intercom. “What?”

“...Mr. Zorc is on the line.”

Bakura's blood ran cold. He stared for a moment longer before his hand reached for the phone. He felt far away. He wanted to be far away. But, as he lifted it, he could hear the dark god breathing on the other end.

He didn't need to speak.

“Have you retrieved them?”

“...Not yet. I know their location. I just need to go get them.”

“Hmmm.”

“W-where are you?” He cleared his throat and winced at the stutter. No weakness could be shown or else he would be killed.

“Not far now. But still not close enough.” His voice was slightly garbled by the phone. “Your time is limited. Retrieve them or face consequences.”

“I will. I promise.” Something warm leaked down his forehead and nearly went into his eye before he swiped it away. His fingers were stained red.

There was a grumble from the other line. It was an inhuman noise that hurt Bakura's ear right before the phone clicked and died.

Bakura pulled the phone from his ear. He needed to get on that ship. Now.

-

The plane hummed as it flew through space. Atem almost wished there were windows so he could at least see something outside of the pod. He could get out and walk around if he so chose, but that might bring some unwanted attention. Sure, most people were asleep, but there was still the staff. And, while there were actual passengers still awake and moving, he didn't want to risk anyone asking how or why he was still up.

He had his tablet but the screen was starting to bother his eyes. The plane was dim. Too dim, which made the brightness look even brighter.

Atem's attention shifted to Yugi. The other had fallen asleep facing Atem. It gave him a good view of Yugi's features. When he wasn't being angry about something, his expression relaxed and made him look far less intimidating. Not that there was anything really that scary about Yugi right off the bat. 

He reminded Atem of a baby panda video he'd seen a few hours before.

Atem stared at Yugi with his head propped up on his hand. It was hard to imagine what Yugi's life must have contained up to this point. He clearly had some troubles. He didn't mind fleeing from the police just because Atem asked him to. He barely flinched when the gun was on him. And he woke up from whatever coma Mahad tried to induce with the trophy.

Atem reached out and brushed the hair away from the bandage on Yugi's head. He could see he was a little swollen but nothing too horrible. Maybe Mahad didn't hit him as hard as Atem thought. The relief soothed him just a little.

That begged another curious question. Why was he so worried about it? He'd only met this man twice. And it wasn't within his creation to care in any deep way. He was a protector and nothing more. He could never be anything more.

He remembered waking up to a light kiss on his lips. While he'd been angry about it when it happened, he couldn't say it was entirely unpleasant. There was no saying he wouldn't want to do something like that again. And there was no doubt in his mind Yugi would be a willing participant. Saying he decided he wanted to experiment, of course.

His eyes moved to Yugi's lips. He stared at them as he contemplated. It wouldn't take much and no one would have to know. Everyone on the plane thought they were a couple anyway, so what could it hurt?

He leaned down slowly.

The change in cabin pressure made him stop. He could see other people moving from their little cabins. Curiosity for their location won out against the curiosity of Yugi's taste. The people were moving towards the front of the plane.

Atem climbed out as well. He could worry about the kiss thing later. Right now, it was more important to figure out how to get the items and return to Earth.

He walked out with the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atem Translation:  
Mana sayakun Yugi Mutou? aietaqadat 'anak satakun Yugi Mutou.- Mana will be Yugi Mutou? I thought you would be Yugi Mutou.
> 
> hsan! laqad eash- Good! He lives!


	5. Chapter 5

It was only a few minutes later when the stasis for Yugi's pod released and he was awake again. He was almost immediately aware of the situation and looked to his side for Atem. When he found the spot vacant, it took everything within him not to jump into a moment of panic. 

It wasn't common for Atem to be without someone. Usually, his escort came in the form of Mahad. The last time he was alone was probably the moment he jumped off that building.

Yugi scrambled out of the pod and pushed his way through the crowd and out of the plane. As soon as his foot hit the floor of the cruise liner, everyone slowed down to take in the scenery. It was an impressive sight. The view of space was replaced by sunny skies and palm trees. Calm island music blasted over speakers hidden through the deck. Women in hula skirts walked around and threw leis over everyone's heads with a peck on the cheek.

Yugi blinked when he felt one land on his own shoulders and lips press against his cheekbone. He kept focused; somewhere in this crowd was a super-powered being who might not fully understand the customs.

Yugi eventually found him with a few of the hula dancers. He already had three leis of his own and was watching intently as the women danced. His studying stopped when he caught sight of Yugi out of the corner of his eye.

Atem smiled and took off one of his leis to drape it over Yugi's shoulders. “This place. Very large.”

Yugi nodded. “Yeah. You shouldn't run off ahead like that. We should stick together.”

The smile faded to a look of confusion but then Atem nodded. “Yes. Right.” There was a mission ahead of them. But was there truly anything for them to do at the moment?

“Oh, Mr. Mutou!”

Yugi turned to see one of the people in Pegasus' entourage. Well, he did still have a show to do. And when Pegasus made his return to Yugi's side, it was as if Yugi hadn't thrown the performer to the ground and threatened him. Although, his babbling seemed to be less set on Yugi saying much of anything.

Yugi reached for Atem but the being pulled back and just smiled at his companion.

Yugi frowned at him. “Traitor.” So much for sticking together.

Atem waved. “I will be near.” The smile stayed as the music again blared. It only faded when Yugi was out of sight and stuck with the radio host.

He had a job to do. And if Yugi was occupied with something else, it meant he was safe. Atem walked the other way, his thoughts on the woman he needed to meet.

-

An error had been beeping since the plane landed on the ship. It wasn't completely unusual for something like that to happen. More often than not it was a stowaway animal who was terrified of what it just experienced and tried to get out by chewing on the wires of the machine. On occasion, it would be just something being shaken loose from a harsh flight.

The flight had been smooth, so it was hard to imagine it was the latter. The men sent to check braced themselves for some kind of raccoon jumping at them in panic.

Instead, once they opened the hatch, a human yelp filled their ears and they were greeted to the sight of a very tall, lanky man in priest robes, horribly tangled in the wires they expected to be chewed to oblivion.

The tall priest hung in the air and slowly looked over at them. “Are we at the cruise ship?”

One of the men nodded, still stunned by the sight. 

The priest nodded back and began working to untangle himself. “Oh, good.” He could pretend he wasn't about to get arrested. 

But he wasn't at all surprised when he felt the cuffs slap on his wrists upon his freedom from the inside of the plane. It didn't matter; he was where he needed to be. Now, he just needed to figure out the best way to get out and find Atem.

Hopefully, he wasn't getting into any trouble with only Yugi to guide him. 

-

It was hours before Yugi was released from the iron grip of Pegasus Crawford. Even if he wasn't expected to say much more than two words, Pegasus still kept his arm linked around Yugi's to lead him around like his own personal pet.

It occurred to Yugi this was no accident. If he was needed for this mission, it could have been just as easy as someone sneaking him in through another means. But, with Pegasus and his show, it was a way to ensure they would be able to keep tabs on everything without any need for bugs or wires.

Pegasus was enough of a wire.

The flashing lights started again as everyone took photos of Pegasus and, by extension, the winner of his contest.

“What a beautiful ship full of beautiful people, wouldn't you say, Yugi-boy?”

The mic was shoved in Yugi's face again.

“Uhh, yeah.” he shot the mic's owner a look before scoping the crowd again. 

There was no sign of Atem since this whole thing began. He said he wouldn't be far. But where would he go? Honestly, he could be anywhere. He could be doing anything. 

Although, he did trust that if Atem were to be in any danger, he would know. No matter how big the ship was, it couldn't hide a problem big enough to take down someone like Atem.

Once Pegasus was done with his segment, Yugi was guided to his room by a woman in a hula skirt. He was extremely thankful for the break from his host. Pegasus had a tendency to suck all of the energy out of everyone around him. It was almost as if he needed it in order to perform.

“The ship has plenty of entertainment options at all times. There are a total of forty-two pools; two per deck, as well as two theatres on either side of the ship.”

Yugi took in the sight of his room. It was larger than he expected with a large king bed in the center of the room. His guide opened the curtains to reveal a large balcony with the sight of a tropical sunset. It lit up the room instantly.

He looked over at the bedside table. On it were pamphlets for the events on the ship. He picked up one with a stunning woman in a sandy beige dress. The picture caught her mid-song, her eyes staring intensely at something in the distance. He knew instantly she was the one they were looking for. “I was hoping to see the Diva perform. I'm a big fan.”

“A ticket was secured for you. You have front row seats right next to Pegasus.” Her face broke out into the hugest smile as soon as she mentioned the star. “You're so lucky. That man is perfect in every way; I just love him.” She shook it off. “Anyway, her show isn't until tomorrow night. It'll give you plenty of time to rest and take in the sights.”

Yugi nodded and looked down at his clothing. He never had time to pack. Blending in would be hard if he were to go to a formal event dressed as he was. “Is there anywhere on the ship I can get clothing? I don't have much in the way of fancy attire.” He turned.

She pressed a button and out moved a line of black suits. She smiled at him. “Have a nice trip, Mr. Mutou.”

He smiled back. They really did think of everything here. He turned back to the picture and studied the singer. She looked perfectly human. Was she similar to Atem?

“She has not yet arrived.”

Yugi whipped around at the sound of the other voice. Atem was frowning in thought, his arms crossed.

The frown continued to deepen. “She should be here.”

“I'm sure she'll be here soon. She's high profile; they're probably doing what they can to keep everything under wraps.”

The frown stayed on Atem's face for a moment as he uncrossed his arms and looked away. “Yes. Yes, you're right.” He relaxed slightly and reluctantly pushed himself away from the wall. “Your head.”

Yugi blinked in confusion for a moment before he reached up and touched the bandage. “Oh, right. It's nothing. Just a little sore.”

Atem didn't look convinced. He walked over and gently touched the bandage. His eyes darted to Yugi's face when the other winced.

Yugi smiled at him to cover up the pain. “It'll heal. We've got more important things to worry about right now.” Not that there was really anything to do other than wait for the woman with the items to arrive. “Maybe we should talk about the plan so we're both on the same page. I can't really help unless I know what and who I'm looking for.”

Atem eyed Yugi for a moment before he let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Yes. That is best.”

“And we should do it while we have the time now. Who knows when Pegasus is going to come out of the walls for his show.”

That earned Yugi a soft smile as the being sat down on the bed. He looked up at Yugi. “Let us begin, then.”

Yugi moved to follow but then his phone began to ring. He sighed as he looked at the ID. “Just a minute, I have to take this.” He answered with a deadpan expression. “Hi, Grandpa.”

“Don't you 'hi, Grandpa' me! You decide to take the vacation alone?! Do you really hate me that much?”

“It's not like that, Grandpa. This isn't that type of-”

“Don't you lie to me, Yugi! You leave me out here to freeze on Neptune-”

“I never told you to move there!”

Atem blinked. He could hear the old man's voice without any trouble. It would seem this might take a while.

-

Dartz was absolutely livid.

That slimy little worm of a human tried to kill him and his entire crew. If it wasn't for his armor, he would be blown to oblivion like most of his group. They had a deal and being killed was not apart of it!

So, Dartz would make it so Bakura wouldn't succeed with his goal. Clearly, there was more of a reason than the shininess and rarity of the items that brought in the man's interest. They did something. And it only took a little persuasion to find exactly what he needed.

Atlantis was once the most technologically advanced place in the universe. Unfortunately, they were arrogant. The planet had been cursed eons ago. It turned them all into horrible beasts that know little more than bloodshed and war. And these sought after objects were very powerful. Maybe, they could figure out a way to restore Atlantis to its former glory.

Bakura was trying to get on the cruise ship under the name 'Yugi Mutou.' So, all it would take was getting onto the ship, find Mutou and grab whatever he was after.

Finding Yugi Mutou wasn't hard. His name had been blasted all over the air thanks to Pegasus' show. And, after seeing images of the man, he knew it would be easy to spot that hair in a crowd. Dartz, however, knew how to easily blend into said crowd. The waitstaff was only acknowledged when someone wanted whatever he was carrying. It was easy to slip through and blend.

Yugi had left his room with his companion. They were talking in hushed tones about 'items' of some kind. The thick accent and knowledge of his companion made the gears turn in Dartz's head.

There was little doubt. This was the Pharaoh.

The fact he was alive was horribly inconvenient to the plan. That meant it wasn't some frail human that stood in the way of his revenge; it was a supreme being who was engineered for this mission specifically.

Things were becoming a little more complicated than he would have liked.

But there was one thing that would make this a lot less complicated. And that's just killing everyone on the ship. They killed the Pharaoh once, they could do it again.

-

“So, anyone here could be hunting for the same items.” Yugi glanced around the crowd in search of anyone who may be listening to their conversation.

Atem just nodded. He looked at Yugi and saw a world of thought behind those eyes. He was working out the problem as best he could. As he looked around the room for anyone who might be suspicious, the being couldn't help as a small twitch of smile played at his lips.

They'd been discussing this for an entire day and a half now. And, as hunger and curiosity hit, Yugi agreed it was about time they explored the ship. And it was a wonderful experience.

Atem could only hope this didn't get too out of control. And he hoped even more that this human didn't get caught in the crossfire of this war; he was really starting to appreciate him and all of his help. Maybe there was some hope for some time alone with him after this. Before Atem returned to his sleep.

Right. He was needed for this and only this. He pulled his eyes away from Yugi and scanned the room. He was here to protect all these people. One could not be considered more worthy of him than another.

Besides, there were certain things he would never be able to protect Yugi from.

“Yoo-hoo! Yugi-boy!”

Yugi groaned and threw his head back. 

Pegasus walked around the crowd. Some people moved out of the way for him, others ran up to just stare at him in starstruck awe. He made a girl swoon by kissing her on the hand then looked at Yugi again. “You should be getting cleaned up for the show! Why are you out here?”

“The show? Already? Does that mean she-” He turned to look at Atem only to find the spot vacant again. He turned to look and see where the other could have gone but Pegasus wrapped an arm around him before he could really seek out Atem.

“Now now. You can worry about your husband later. Right now, all of your attention should be on me and making sure everything is perfect for my show!” He pushed him into the direction of the cabins.

Yugi frowned and reluctantly allowed himself to be guided away.

-

Ishizu wasn't too sure what to expect when she arrived on the cruise. It wasn't common for her to be bringing such precious objects with her when she was performing. But she knew someone would be there to take them. She was hoping it would be the Pharaoh. Only he could truly be trusted with the items.

And the proof came when she stepped onto the ship, her face covered and her entourage close to her sides.

She was greeted by a boy who was barely old enough to qualify as an adult. He stared at her with a look of breathtaking terror. It was almost as if he were waiting for her to attack him. His shaking hand read out a script with his name and a welcoming from the staff. He could barely inhale enough air to speak, much less say what was written on the card.

Her focus shifted to another presence. One unafraid of her. His fear ran deep but was well hidden behind protective fire. She couldn't see him from her angle, but she knew he was there.

She turned to a thin pale man in her entourage. He didn't need her to speak; he just walked over. 

He didn't look at the being. He just spoke in a soft voice. “She has brought the materials you need but we're not sure how secure we are just yet. It's suggested that you stay put until after the performance.” He didn't look but could see the slight head nod out of his peripherals.

Atem just continued to stare forward. They were being extra cautious. Was it possible they saw something on route here? He couldn't be sure.

But he trusted this woman so he would wait. He could be patient enough.

It's what the universe needed of him, after all.

-

The giant dark mass was just outside of Mars' orbital path. It would take it no time to make it to Earth. The scientists predict only a few hours before it was within range of Earth.

It was hard to keep still with all the nervous energy that flowed through him. Kaiba would never admit to his fears, but he did have an entire planet to worry about. And their only hope was set on Yugi Mutou, which his general swore was a good place to put their faith. Yugi would be able to keep a situation from becoming hostile. He would simply go in, grab the items from Ishizu and get back out before dessert could be served at the after-party.

In the meantime, he was supposed to just sit by in his office and listen to a radio show that unknowingly gave them all the updates they would need.

“Now, it's time for Pegasus Crawford to bring us to paradise, Live from the Kingdom Cruise, with his companion and contest winner, Yugi Mutou.” The soothing voice was replaced with Pegasus speaking a mile a minute. Well, at least he would provide some kind of entertainment before the world came to an end.

-

“Aren't you all in for a treat tonight! You will be here with me and my Yugi-boy for the full two hours, hearing the beautiful tones of Ishizu Ishtar in the Gemini Croquette Concert Hall! This show has been sold out for months, so for most of you out there in radio world, it'll be the only way to hear her!” Pegasus hip-checked one of his men in order to loop his arm around Yugi's and walk the other in.

Yugi fought the nearly overwhelming urge to sigh in exasperation but then was nearly immediately caught in awe at the sight of the concert hall.

It was massive and looked older than anything else on the ship. The ceiling was painted like a cathedral with a giant map of the Solar System etched into the gold wall above the stage.

“This Hall was created almost two hundred years ago and placed oh-so-delicately into our faithful ship so that everyone can appreciate the atmosphere along with the beauty of our esteemed performer. But who really cares about the hall?”

Yugi was pulled down an aisle where all the richest and most important people on the ship were finding their seats.

“Not when we are surrounded by all the beauty in the crowd!” Pegasus made a sweeping gesture with his free hand to the room. “From sport stars to politicians, everyone who's  _ anyone _ is here tonight! Although, I'm not seeing our own President Kaiba. Hm, I guess that would put him on the list of no one, isn't that right, Yugi-boy?”

Yugi was barely even listening as they got to their seats. “Sure, yeah.” He sank down.

Pegasus clenched his jaw as his hand curled like he wanted to grab Yugi by the throat for, once again, saying as little as possible. He sucked in a breath to calm himself and forced a smile.

“I believe it's time for a little wine break, my loves! But don't worry. I'll be back soon!” He pressed a button on his headset and lost the smile as he grabbed himself a glass from a nearby waiter.

As he brought it up to his lips, he waved the man away dismissively and returned to his seat. Maybe, within the time of the commercial, he could make a few seething comments to Yugi. He just couldn't stand how this little punk was ruining his show. Why couldn't someone with a personality win this contest?!

By the time he got over to the seat, he remembered being flipped over the shorter man's shoulder and lost his nerve. Maybe he shouldn't be messing with something like that or everyone would tune into him getting his ass kicked.

He'd wait until this whole ordeal was over. Yugi would face his wrath.

Meanwhile, the waiter did walk away. As everyone took their seats and his tray became empty, he walked into the back where the kitchen staff was already dead and removed from the area.

Dartz looked at his crew and smiled. “We begin now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No more translations for Atem! :D


	6. Chapter 6

The somber tones of Ishizu's performance began and came through every speaker on the ship. For the umpteenth time, Mahad wished he was the one who posed as Yugi. He shouldn't have assumed it was safe for Mana to go alone. Then he might be in that concert hall, just listening and waiting.

He hoped Atem was alright with only Yugi there as his support. That man had no training or knowledge in anything having to do with the items or the Pharaoh. But, with a little luck, he knew how to help.

The priest looked down at his handcuffs. He was surprised they hadn't shoved him out by now. Maybe they couldn't; he wasn't sure. But he was kept on the captain's deck; the most secure place on the ship.

But also the spot where most of the information was coming in and out so at least he was getting updates on the ship's condition. And it was nice to not hear any reports of a rogue super-being destroying the place in search of a few ancient artifacts.

“Sir, there's a small cruiser hailing us. He says he has an issue that needs emergency maintenance.”

Mahad felt his gut drop at that. There was something he didn't like about that cruiser, but anything he would say would fall on deaf ears.

The captain grunted and looked out at the little ship. It was a simple cruiser; small and made for only quick transportation. It had no weapons to speak of. “Let him know we'll allow him in for a two-hour repair. He is to return to his cruiser and leave immediately after.”

Mahad watched the message be relayed and he could practically see the ship's owner smirking at how easy it was to make it in.

The feeling in his gut tightened. This would be the cause of their end.

-

He'd only ever seen her in photos and holograms advertising her shows. But to be so close? Yugi was blown away by her beauty. Her face was gently angled and flawless, her lips painted black to match her hair and offset the white dress. Her long limbs moved with the soft tones and melodies coming from her lips. It was a song in a language Yugi didn't know, but it made him want to cry.

The story she told was a sad one. This woman had seen pain no one else could possibly process right away. And it was apparent in the way she moved and the tones of her voice. She looked out into the crowd, her eyes mostly blinded by the stage lights. 

But when she looked down at the first row, she locked onto Yugi.

When her eyes fell on him, he felt like she knew all his secrets. She could see what he'd seen; his past, his heartache, his fears. But a smile pulled at her lips as if she were deciding something right then and there.

What did she see in him? He wondered if there would be a moment where he could ask. For now, he would just fight not to fidget under her gaze and enjoy her singing.

But it was hard to chase those questions from his mind.

-

The music flowed through the halls. Atem could only shut his eyes and listen. The melody alone felt like a lullaby. Although, the lyrics were ones he knew well. Ishizu stood on that stage and told a story of sorrow and pain. A story of the betrayal of her people and the tasks they had to commit in the name of peace. It was a story everyone knew in some form. A story many wished to forget.

There was a loud bang from a room down the hall. Atem peeked around the corner and saw three large creatures with large guns to match. He knew those creatures. They...

They killed his people. They tried to kill  _ him _ .

He leaned back against the wall and tried to quell the rage inside him. He was told to stay put. He couldn't risk this mission. 

But they were there for the items, he knew. And they were killing again.

The rage burned in him. He could feel it emanate and light up his bones. He needed to do something. Now.

As Ishizu's song turned from somber to lively, Atem kicked in the door to her suite. Inside were the bodies of her men, both shot dead by six soon-to-be-dead men. They made a mess of the room and one was holding a large, old case. Atem glowered at the first man to his right. He grabbed hold of his armor front and slammed his forehead into the other. He didn't stick around to watch him collapse as he targeted another.

Atem ran, bounced a foot off the wall and kicked Number Two right upside the head. He could hear the neck snap at the blow. When he landed on his feet, Number Three came at him with a large dagger.

He dropped to his back, turned slightly, and kicked up. The blade was kicked clean off its hilt, but Three wasn't given enough time to admire it.

A hard uppercut to the head followed soon after.

Before the body even hit the ground, Atem was after Number Four. Four showed a few signs of competence in battle but still couldn't manage to get around Atem's blocking. His size made him too slow. He tried to use the height to his advantage. He lifted Atem and attempted to pin the being against the wall.

His hold didn't last long enough. Atem squirmed out, turned, and tossed Number Four into Number Five with a throw over his shoulder.

The sound of a gun charging caught his attention. Number Six had put down the box to pick up a gun. He ran from the shower of bullets and managed to somersault back to the doorway. As the gun clicked, Atem bowed into a mock fighting stance and waved the other to him with a wide smirk. He couldn't help himself; now he was starting to have fun.

As Six charged at him, Atem punched. It landed right in the other chest and propelled him back. He stepped back into the room and saw one was still moving.

He walked over and cupped the other's face almost lovingly. He smiled at the disoriented look he received.

Then jabbed his fist right into the monster's face.

With all the opponents out and the music over, Atem almost wanted to bow. But he didn't have time to mock them. Clearly, the items weren't safe. He had to go now.

He walked over to the case and thought about the quickest exit. An escape pod would do. Although he felt wrong leaving Yugi behind, it would be for the best that he not wander around with the items. Not when there was clearly a threat aboard the ship.

Yugi would have to understand. He picked up the case. When he did, he felt...

Empty. The case was- 

A low whistle caught his attention and cut through his thoughts.

“Holy shit, you made this whole thing so much easier!”

Atem snapped around.

Bakura just smiled at him for a moment then looked at the broken bodies. “You know, I came on here thinking I was going to have to make a mess... You kinda took away the fun part. But, oh well.” He beckoned to Atem with his finger. “Give me the case.”

Atem stood solid and said nothing. Bakura cocked his gun and pointed it directly at the being. Well, if he wanted the case that badly, he could have it.

Atem threw it in the air, turned, and ran. He managed to jump up into a broken air vent before Bakura had fully recovered from the catch.

Bakura glared at the spot where the Pharaoh once stood then up at the vents. He couldn't let that little prick get away. Not when that thing was the only being that could stand in the way of his plan.

He listened and heard the sounds of something larger than a rat moving in the vents. So, he pulled the trigger and unloaded a magazine into the area. When it moved again, he emptied another magazine and listened in delight to the sounds of pained cries from the vent. Then, there was no movement.

But he had to be completely sure. He pulled a small square out of his pocket and stuck it to the door. With a few quick button presses, the little screen started to count down from twenty minutes. “Let's make sure you really die here, Pharaoh. It'd be a shame to see you again.” 

With that and a parting grin, Bakura strode down the hall.

-

The song earned the singer a standing ovation with loud whistling and many screaming “bravo!” It was hard not to appreciate such talent when it was right in one's face. Even Pegasus couldn't help but scream out words of genuine praise to Ishizu.

But the world turned dark fast. There was the sound of gunfire. People started to scream. Ishizu held her stomach and looked at Yugi in shock. The expression must have been mirrored on his face as she collapsed onto the stage.

More shots were fired. Yugi ducked to the floor in front of their seats and dragged the radio host down with him. Pegasus reported everything in to the station and begging to be saved. People flooded out of the room in panic while others were caught in the shots. Yugi carefully moved up and pulled Ishizu off the stage. “Hold on. Just keep your eyes open for me; we'll get you out of this.”

Ishizu looked at Yugi and smiled tiredly. “He's here with you, isn't he?”

“Who?”

“The Pharaoh. The supreme being created to save and protect the universe.”

Yugi frowned. “Atem?”

She nodded. “He plays at being unbreakable but he's much more fragile than he lets on. He needs love and protection himself or he will die.”

Yugi couldn't believe this was where her thoughts went. Seconds away from bleeding out and she was talking about how Atem needs love? They didn't have time to waste. “Ishizu, we need to know where the items are.”

“They...” She nodded off slightly.

Yugi shook her back awake. “The items! Where are they?”

“...in me.” Then, the last breath came from Ishizu and her body went limp.

Both Yugi and Pegasus stared at her for a moment. What did that mean? Maybe it was just a random thing said by a woman on the verge of death. Maybe it meant nothing. She couldn't have meant that literally, right?

Right?

Yugi shrugged his suit jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. At his side, he could hear Pegasus speak in a shaky voice, “Yugi.. Yugi-boy, yo-you're not doing what I think you're doing, right? Right?”

Yugi just stared at the body. Now dead, Ishizu was looking less and less human. It could be part of her species. Many different races could hold things in their body. In most cases, it was their own children for protection.

But what was to say a few ancient artifacts weren't on the list?

He pushed in through the bullet hole in her stomach and the skin widened to accommodate in a way a human's couldn't. He felt around for a moment until his fingers brushed against a pointed edge. He grabbed it and pulled out a large gold pyramid pendant with an eye in the center of it. He placed it on his jacket and returned to the body for another.

One by one, he pulled out bloodied gold, each piece different from the one before. He wondered how Ishizu managed to squeeze them in and still go about her day. How did she plan to get these out to give to Atem?

When he pulled out the final piece, a small sphere about the size of an eyeball, he heard a noise from his companion. He looked over in surprise. “Are you gagging?”

Pegasus covered his mouth for a moment, looking as if he were about to vomit. His skin was turning a lovely shade of green. After he regained himself, he looked incredulous. “You're pulling tacky gold jewelry out of the corpse of an opera singer. How are you  _ not _ gagging?!”

They were interrupted by the sound of loud, heavy footsteps in the nearly empty concert hall. Pegasus peeked over the seats to see a large Atlantian warrior with a gun. “Yu-yugi... There are more coming.” He whimpered as two more appeared behind the first. “Three. Three of them. Yugi.. Yugi what do we-” he yelped loudly as Yugi pulled him back down. He covered his mouth with both hands as his companion glared at him. 

“You protect this with your life and stay out of the line of fire, got it?” He shoved the tightly tied jacket into the other's arms.

Pegasus took it in shaky hands and nearly screamed as one of the large soldiers jumped down from the stage and shoved the nose of his large gun to the back of Yugi's head. 

“Hand it over.”

Pegasus tried to push himself further into the seats and gripped the jacket tightly.

Yugi stayed perfectly still for a moment. Slowly, he began lifting his hands as if he were surrendering. Then, he spun, grabbed hold of the gun and slammed the warrior into the floor by the neck.

The sight and sound alerted the other three.

Yugi sighed and shook his head. “This was supposed to be easy. Why isn't it ever easy?” He heard footsteps and the telltale sounds of a charging gun. In a moment of instinct, he turned and pulled the downed warrior in front of him just in time to be shielded from the bullets. 

He fired back and took down his would-be killer. The sound of the gunshots nearly blocked out Pegasus' panicked screams.

Yugi shot another one in the legs to prevent him from getting any closer and hit the third in the chest. He looked back at Pegasus. “Stay out of the way and keep that safe or you'll end up like one of these guys, agreed?”

Pegasus nodded and tried to stop himself from shaking. “...Agreed.”

-

Last time someone tried to kill him, it was quick. There was an explosion and a quick moment of intense pain before he blacked out and woke up in a strange lab. He hadn't even realized he died until hours later, in Mahad's apartment, when he had a moment to process everything.

This time, it was slow. He could feel himself getting weaker. He could barely crawl to the vent opening he jumped through. The bullet wounds he received were agony on his legs and torso. His body was shaking as his limbs rebelled against any type of movement. But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was being left alone with his thoughts. That he knew he was alone. Left in a random vent to die. To die a failure. To fail the only task he was to do. The one he was created to do.

Atem choked on a sob and tried again to move. The intense pain kept him from going any further. “...help...”

His soft plea echoed in the vent but would never reach anyone.

“...please... help...” 

The tears stung his eyes. He cried at the pain and the hopeless feeling that had nowhere else to go. He was alone.

And that's how he would die. Alone, in a random vent, and a failure to the universe.

-

Mahad heard all the commotion both through the radio and outside the door. He knew this mission went south very very quickly. And yet, there was no mention of it having anything to do with Atem. He wasn't too sure whether to be proud or worried.

But when Pegasus mentioned 'tacky gold jewelry,' he knew Yugi managed to get his hands on the items. At least they were in Yugi's hands; despite everything, he knew he was at least trustworthy. He wasn't going to misuse the power or try and bring about darkness.

Now he just had to trust the man to be able to keep them safe and get them back to Earth without delay. They were running out of time.

The door to the captain's deck burst open and some brutish warriors with large guns stormed in. “The ship is ours now!”

Mahad could only sit there and stare blankly as everything happened around him. The gunfire, the sounds of pained screams. He couldn't get himself to move.

One of their captors pointed a gun at him. “Hands up.”

Mahad put his cuffed hands up.

-

_ “Agreed?” _

_ “...Agreed.” _

Back at the Earth's headquarters, the world's most important people were gathered. The radio kept them all up to date on the ship. From the moment everything went wrong and Ishizu fell, everyone in the room kept silent and just eyed their leader. He was not a man known for his patience or his ability to see the bright side of a horrible situation. 

And, right now, he had no control.

The president glared at Jounouchi. “So, this is what qualifies as 'finesse' now, hm?”

The general sighed. “Look, It's Yugi Mutou. we both know Yugi's not the type to resort to violence unless it's absolutely necessary. He'll find a way to return everything to the way it was, you'll see. Everything'll calm down.”

-

Yugi didn't like to resort to violence. Ten years ago, he wouldn't be able to say anything that might hurt someone's feelings, much less physically assault them. But now, here he was, storming out into the main ballroom with a gun he stole off a dead body. Anything that so much as moved to threaten him received a bullet for their troubles. Behind him was Pegasus who hugged the wall and got down low at the sound of the gunfire. 

Three Atlantians were taken down before he could take two steps. Then he stopped at the banister to look over and shoot down two more. Unfortunately, he missed the one with a large rocket launcher on his shoulder.

As soon as the bullet flew passed, he sucked in a breath and ran to the side, away from Pegasus. He dove just far enough to feel the heat of the explosion that followed. He stayed down and listened to their chatter. He could tell they were wondering if they got him. He moved to the giant gaping hole created by the rocket and shot down at them before he hopped to the first floor.

If High School him could see the future, he'd probably have a heart attack and swear to never go into the army. No matter how much Jounouchi and Honda begged.

With Yugi no longer near him, Pegasus kept as low and out of sight as possible. But he knew no one was paying attention to him. Why focus on the beautiful pacifist when a guy is running around and shooting all your friends? It was a rare instance of being grateful for the lack of interest.

But his listeners deserved to hear what was going on. And this would go down as his best show.

“So many shots. Our own Yugi-boy is doing everything to defend this ship.” He crawled closer to the banister and peeked out at him. “I'm seeing... I'm seeing a lot of violence, my loves. I-It's like we were seated next to a little monster who's in charge of taking down bigger monsters.” 

Yugi dropped the gun he was using and dove behind a bar just in time for the wood to be pelted with bullets. Now unarmed, he thought about his best options. 

There was a gun in his face before he could form a plan.

“Whoa whoa whoa! I'm not armed!” He raised his arms defensively. “Don't shoot! Please don't shoot!” On occasion, his innocent look would work to his advantage and people would underestimate his capabilities. No one really believed he could cause all the destruction he did.

But this man could have seen what he did. He didn't know how convincing he could be in this situation.

“I'm just... I'm just on vacation!” He slowly stood and looked around the room. Three men stood as well, all with guns. Slowly, he climbed onto the bar. “Please, don't shoot me!”

The warrior who found him stepped on some broken debris from the second floor. He glared at Yugi. “Get down.”

Yugi looked at him, where he stood on a wood plank, and up at the floor above him where Pegasus was watching. He flicked his wrist twice and looked away from the second floor.

Pegasus frowned in confusion. “W-wait a minute. I think he's trying to tell me something.”

“Get down!”

Yugi flicked his wrist again.

“Wh-what's he saying? I can't tell.. I-”

_ “Get down!” _

Yugi sucked in a deep breath, nodded, and jumped down on the wood plank as hard as he could. The warrior was launched up, his head breaking through the ceiling and the floor of the second floor.

Pegasus screamed as the head popped up right in front of him.

The stuck soldier shot his gun blindly and took out two of the men on the floor. Yugi hid back behind the bar as Pegasus pressed down on the alien's head and forced him back through the hole.

He fell back to the first floor and was out cold. 

As Pegasus called apologies down to the warrior, Yugi grabbed his gun and shot the one man left over. He then looked up at Pegasus.

Pegasus glanced over to his left to see five more Atlantians stormed in through the door. He was nearly sobbing. “Yugiii!”

“Don't move.”

“...What?”

Bullets started to shoot right through the floor all around his body. Pegasus covered his head and shook, only feeling brave enough to look up when the bullets stopped.

Then he heard the creaking of the floor and felt it begin to give way. He shrieked as he fell to the first floor at Yugi's feet.

Yugi picked something off the body near them with an interested hum.

“Yugi? Yugi, what're you doing?”

“Count to,” he looked up from the device and at the enemies above them, “ten.”

He tossed it up then dragged Pegasus and the bundle of items under a rolling service table. He immediately moved under the table as well.

“Was that a bomb?!”

“Just count!” Yugi pushed and they started moving.

“One, two, three, four, five..” Pegasus sobbed out the numbers, “Six, sev-”

The explosion was loud. Almost as loud as the radio host's surprised and terrified shrieks.

Yugi slowed down as pieces of debris and bodies hit the top of the table. He cautiously moved out from under the table and took in the destruction. “Guess my timing was off....”

Pegasus climbed onto shaky legs and gripped the bundle like a lifesaver. He could only hope that the worst was over.


	7. Chapter 7

He left without checking the case. He set the bomb with plenty of time for him to get to his ship but he didn't think to check the case.

In his defense, why the fuck would the Pharaoh be so concerned about a box full of the diva's lingerie? 

But there he was, on his ship, in the middle of space. He stared into the box full of lace and silk. He tossed a few pieces out. Maybe they were hidden within. Sometimes people think the best place to hide important objects is in underwear drawers. Maybe the singer was fooling herself into believing it as well!

Bakura didn't need to see the bottom of the empty case to know he was lying to himself. But he still sat there, staring into the now-empty case. Before he could help himself, he started to laugh. This was absurd. How many times would he have to go through this?!

“God Dammit!” He roared loud enough for the entire galaxy to hear. He turned his cruiser around and headed back for the cruise ship at top speed.

-

“Yugi, where are we going? The escape pods are the other way!” Pegasus couldn't believe how fast those little legs could move. His stride was twice the length, yet he was struggling to keep up!

Yugi didn't look back at him. He just kept running. “We have to find Atem. There's most likely a security feed on the captain's deck.”

“You can't seriously be so in love with this man that you're willing to risk your life and whatever  _ these things  _ are to find him!”

Yugi stopped abruptly. He turned and glared at Pegasus.

The radio host gulped.

“Look, I don't expect you to understand this. But all of our lives depend on him. You can go if you want; good luck with whoever else might want to kill you.” Yugi pulled the bundle from Pegasus and continued on his way.

Pegasus watched him leave. “Wh-? Yugi! Yugi-boy, don't leave me here! What do you mean people who want to kill me? Who would want to kill me?!” Suddenly, without the addition of his crazy-haired companion, Pegasus felt completely vulnerable. As if someone would phase through the walls to put a bullet in his head.

He whimpered softly and chased after Yugi.

It didn't take long to find him. The captain's deck was labeled on every corner and easy to reach with the empty halls, now that most of the guests flooded off the ship and to safety. But, as soon as they came to the room, there was a young man looking just as every bit afraid as Pegasus felt.

Yugi pressed himself up against the wall and tapped the boy on the shoulder. He gasped and snapped around with a small pistol in his hand. When he saw it was another human, he relaxed.

Yugi frowned. “Hey, Yugi Mutou.”

“....S-Sho Marufuji.” The poor boy was so spooked, he nearly forgot his name.

“Are you in charge?”

“N-no..I mean, maybe?... I-I mean, I... I don't know who's left.”

Yugi nodded. “How many are in there?”

Sho stared at Yugi in shock for a moment. Then, he took a quick glance in and pinned himself back to the wall. “....I looked too fast, I don't know.”

Yugi would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. He gently moved and pushed Sho to stand on his other side so he could peek in. “Five men. Possibly seven hostages.” He brought his gun up, steeled himself for a moment, then shot in.

He slammed his back against the wall as they returned fire. “Three men.”

Sho shook and covered his ears.

Yugi just peeked in again. “Those are Atlanians. They don't go anywhere without their leader's say; we kill the leader and they're useless.”

Pegasus frowned. “What if the leader's not here?”

Yugi took in a deep breath but still didn't look away. “Then we kill them all.”

Suddenly, a fourth Atlantian stood up. He was larger than the others, his face scarred, with his arm wrapped tightly around Mahad's neck. He pressed a gun to the priest's temple. “Send in someone to negotiate or we start killing hostages!”

“But I don't think we'll have to worry about that.” He turned back to Sho. “You know anything about negotiations?”

“I-I-I-I...” Sho looked about ready to faint.

“It's okay. I can take care of it.” Yugi knew Jou was listening to the radio and convincing the president this would be the moment everything calmed down. 'Yugi would be able to sweet-talk this guy and everything would be fine.' There was no doubt those were his exact words.

He'd hate to disappoint his best friend.

Sho stared at Yugi in relief before he nodded and called out. “We're sending someone in to negotiate!”

Yugi pushed off the wall and marched into the room. He only had one shot at this; he had to make it count. As soon as he was in the middle of the room, he brought his gun up and shot a single bullet.

Dartz caught it right between the eyes.

Mahad's eyes were as wide as saucers as he felt and heard the bullet blow passed him. He stood as solid as stone and stared at Yugi with that same, shocked expression.

Yugi pointed the gun at everyone else, threateningly. “Anyone else want to negotiate?”

Outside the door, Sho turned to Pegasus. “Wh-Where did he learn to negotiate like that?”

-

“I wonder.” The president glared pointedly at Jounouchi as the question came through.

Jounouchi coughed into his hand and looked away from the leader.

-

The radio show agreed to take a ten-minute break in order for everyone to get their bearings. With the amount of stress and pressure put on every one of the survivors, it was for the best. 

Everyone was beginning to try and process what happened on the ship. The crew was aiding each other where they could. Suddenly, Mahad being a stowaway on the ship was a non-issue. He looked around the room and watched as a teary-eyed Pegasus slapped a crewman's hand for pulling a piece of debris out of his finger.

Mahad's eyes turned to Yugi who continued to stare at one of the security screens. “Hey.”

Yugi glanced at him. 

“...You're a pretty good shot. Thanks.”

Yugi looked back and smirked at the screen. “You're welcome. You've got a pretty good arm. That trophy you hit me with nearly gave me a concussion.”

Mahad raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Oh, so they were going to play this game? So be it. “And  _ you're _ pretty good at violating our savior.”

Yugi snapped his head around completely, his face turning a deep shade of red. “What-?”

“Don't try to deny it. Why else would he be holding you at gunpoint and saying 'never without my permission?' I wasn't even gone for five minutes.”

His face heated up even more as he looked away. “Point taken.” Now they had more important things to worry about.

Like finding said savior.

Yugi continued to scroll through the cameras. The ship was so large so it was hard to pinpoint the exact place. But then.

“There.” He pointed at a room where it looked to be a hand hanging from the ceiling. “Where is that?”

Sho looked at it with a frown. “That's Ishizu Ishtar's suite on the upper deck.”

That was all Yugi needed. He sprinted from the room, his heart hammering in his chest. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He could only hope he wasn't too late.

Mahad followed right after Yugi. Upon seeing everyone go, Pegasus groaned. “Can't I just have a moment's rest?!” He jumped up and followed after the two.

Yugi was the first in the room. He slid to a stop in the doorway and stepped over the dead bodies scattered across the room. His eyes stayed focused on the single tanned hand hanging out of the ceiling vent. It was almost as if he were afraid of looking away.

He reached up and grabbed the wrist. It was still warm. There was a pulse, but it was weak.

He dragged a table over in time for Mahad and Pegasus to make their way to the room. Mahad was at his side immediately as he climbed onto the table and up into the vent.

Atem's eyes were shut tight. His body was trembling in pain.

Yugi tried to keep as calm as possible as he cupped the other's cheek. “Hey...”

Atem's eyes opened. For a moment, it looked like he was about to sob in relief.

“Let's get you out of here, okay?” He carefully pulled Atem closer to him and cradled the other in his arms as he climbed out of the vent. He looked at Mahad. “Get something to wrap around his wounds.”

Pegasus leaned against the doorway to catch his breath. He really needed to work on his cardio a bit more. It was then he heard the beeping.

Was it really ten already?

No, that couldn't be right. Clocks don't count down.

Without looking away, he waved his hand and caught hold of Mahad's arm as the priest was looking for something to stop Atem's bleeding. “Hey, magician-guy?”

Mahad looked at him in confusion. He wasn't too sure whether or not to be insulted. “I'm a priest.”

Pegasus ignored the statement and pointed at the little box on the wall. “What's this thing?”

Mahad looked at it. He stared for a moment before a cold realization hit. He looked at Pegasus, opened his mouth, then looked back at the device and, once more, back at Pegasus. “It's... Uh... It's a...” 

Pegasus caught on to what he wanted to say and laughed softly. How ridiculous! He just wanted to pinch his cheeks and pat him on the head. “Oh, no no no, my naïve little biscuit! If it was a bomb, there would be alarms. All high-end hotels have bomb detectors.” 

Mahad looked relieved for a moment as he thought about that. It was true; most places did have ways to detect any kind of bomb threat.

But neither of them considered how long it might take as the alarms started to blare.

_ “Do Not Panic. Impending Threat. Please Move To The Escape Pods In An Orderly Fashion. Evacuation: T-Minus Nine Minutes.” _

Yugi looked at the lights then over at Mahad and Pegasus. His eyes zeroed in on the door. “Mahad, let me take a look at that.” 

When Mahad moved in to take Atem, Yugi strode over to the door and immediately began analyzing the bomb. He'd seen the model before. It had a modest blast radius but could easily get in and out of places without detection. That wasn't the worst part about it.

Only the one with the key card could disarm it.

“Yu-Yugi, you know how to stop it... right?” Pegasus looked at him hopefully.

Yugi looked back. He didn't say anything.

Seconds later, he had Atem back in his arms and Mahad had the bundle of items. The three sprinted down the hall.

-

_ “Evacuation: T-Minus Five Minutes.” _

So many people were rushing around, it was easy to overlook the one man walking back into the ship. Bakura kept his gun up and strode through the halls. He shoved passed anyone in his way. He needed to find those items.

Where were those fucking items?!

First, he needed to return to the suite and deactivate the bomb. Then, he could take his time tearing apart what was left of the ship until he had what he came for. 

Deactivating the bomb would be easy enough. He just walked up to the door and slid the card in. The beeping stopped and the screen lit up with one word:

ABORT.

Now, to move on.

_ “Evacuation: T-Minus Four Minutes.” _

...It was possible the ship's computer hadn't caught up yet.

-

By the time they got to the docking area, most of the escape pods had left. Only the crew was loading into the last one and it blasted off seconds before they got into the bay.

“Those dicks! Don't they know who they left behind?!” Pegasus huffed and glared at the retreating craft.

“I'm sure they're not aware of Atem's importance.” Mahad sighed.

“Who's 'Atem?!' I was talking about me!”

The priest looked at Pegasus flatly.

_ “Evacuation: T-Minus Three Minutes.” _

Yugi looked over at the last ship and nodded to it. “There's still this one.”

Mahad looked at Yugi in surprise. “We have no one to pilot it.”

“How hard could it be?” He jabbed his elbow into the button and walked into the ship. 

He blinked and he noticed the underwear thrown about inside. But he didn't spend any time dwelling on it. He found a small alcove with a bed and carefully placed Atem in it before he strode to the cockpit. He looked at the controls. 

“It's just like a cab.” He told himself.

Pegasus looked at the state of the ship. “Looks like someone was having fun in here.”

“We should get out of here before-” Loud gunfire interrupted Yugi and shook the small ship. He ran and took a glance out the door to see more Atlantians rushing into the bay. “Before that!” He ran back and jumped into the pilot's seat. He could only hope there was some kind of weapon on the ship.

Pegasus jumped up and gripped the pilot seat. “Yugi! We gotta go! They're gonna kill us!”

Yugi ignored him in favor of starting the ship. As he flipped everything on, he saw the gun.

He thought about turning to face the men assaulting ship, but then he thought better of it. No, he aimed for the docking bay doors and shot at them. It blasted a hole three times the size of his ship and sucked out everything in the bay, including the ship itself and the men on the platform.

As the ship jerked out into space, Pegasus flew back and hit the far wall with a yelp. Mahad jumped at the sight but stayed near Atem.

Yugi took the burst and shot the ship forward to get as far away as possible.

-

_ “Evacuation: T-Minus One Minute.” _

He couldn't understand why it was still counting and his search for the items turned into a search for another bomb. Who else would have technology advanced enough to get an explosive onto the ship? Only his company had something so advanced!

It was possible he was being paranoid. Maybe he didn't deactivate his properly. Maybe the card popped out of the bomb. In that case, he just needed to go back and fix it.

But then he walked into the suite and saw what he'd missed. He was led in by a softer beeping noise and there found it. A larger countdown clock near one of the bodies. The body moved its head and looked at Bakura.

_ “Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven-” _

The Atlantian smiled. “For Atlantis. We Shall Return Her to Her Glory.” With that last statement, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed completely.

_ “-Six, Five, Four-” _

“Fuck...” Bakura's shoulders fell in defeat.

_ “-Three, Two, One.” _

-

The explosion rippled through and tossed the ship around a little. Once the ship settled, Mahad and Pegasus climbed to their feet and looked out the window. All three of them stared in shock at the sight of the Kingdom Cruise Ship exploding in a spectacular display of violence.

Pegasus swallowed thickly and didn't look away from the explosion as he addressed his listeners for the first time in a while. His tone was soft and breathless. “Well, I believe it's time for us to say goodbye, my loves. Now it's time to listen for Siegfried's smooth jazz hour. Tune in tomorrow. Until then...” He pulled the mic from his ear and dropped it to the floor. “I... I don't know how I'm going to top that show.”

Yugi put the cruiser on autopilot as he patted the host's shoulder and walked around him. The show may be over but the mission was only half done.

He walked back and sat next to the bed where he'd left Atem. He smiled gently when the other's eyes landed on his. “Hey. We're safe now. Soon, we can get you back to Earth and get you fixed up.”

Atem didn't smile back. He just nodded. His eyes scanned Yugi for a moment. “Are you uninjured?”

“Yeah, for the most part.” He reached out and gently took a hold of Atem's hand. “Don't worry about me, okay? Just rest.” He tried to pull away.

Atem kept a tight grip on his hand. “Don't... don't leave.”

Yugi frowned and nodded at the other. “Okay.” He returned the grip. “Okay, I'll stay here.”

Mahad watched from his place against the far wall. He watched the two interact with one another. He watched Yugi speak and lean closer to Atem. He kept the conversation light and watched the other closely. Clearly, he was trying to make the being smile.

And when Atem didn't, the concern permeated off Yugi.

Mahad dedicated his life to this. He knew the ins and outs of every item. He had a very good idea as to how this weapon was supposed to work despite living in relative peace and never having a need for it. He knew every detail that was in the scriptures and the stories, all passed down from teacher to student.

But they never mentioned what was to happen to the Pharaoh after he's done with his mission.

None of the passages talked about the more human side of the Pharaoh. They never brought up his abilities to experience emotion; anger, happiness, sorrow. 

Love.

He was always a weapon against evil. But he was also so much more. And Mahad would have to be sure Mana understood that so she could pass that on.

For now, Mahad would make sure Atem stayed right here. He was sure the Pharaoh could always be engineered again. This version of him deserved to have a little bit of peace after his adventure.

-

A calm hush moved over the ship as everyone calmed down. Atem had fallen asleep and woke up to find Yugi gone and back in the pilot's chair. He knew the other had good reason to leave but...

Atem didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. He didn't want to be staring at the ceiling of the ship and thinking about all the wounds he received. He still wouldn't be able to trust his legs to lift him up, much less walk. And for what? Why would this man who he has never met before deciding to try to kill him?

Why did the Atlantians try to destroy his ship?

Why did the universe want him dead? At every turn, there was something trying to end his life and all he's done to deserve it is exist. Was this the destiny of the world?

He'd seen it in the eyes of his companions. Time and life have taken their toll on them. He imagined there was a time where Mahad could truly smile. There was a time were Yugi wasn't so guarded.

But the world around them beat on them for so long until they had to create a thicker shell. Where sorrow and pain were so unbreakable, they had to protect their true selves to keep from dying.

Was that truly a universe worth protecting?

He'd done his fair share of learning the Earth's history. Most of it was war and bloodshed. And that was only one planet in the universe. Many more have clearly shown him they follow the same idea.

Maybe there was something to the idea of death and destruction. Maybe this would be a time the Pharaoh would just take a step back and let the slate be wiped clean.

Maybe he was just too tired to think straight. He couldn't be sure.

All he knew was the pain that still sat in his body. And the exhaustion of his mission. Right now, death was very welcoming.


	8. Chapter 8

The large mass was moving even closer to the planet. As much as his army wanted to shoot it down, the world leader had already been convinced it was a horrible idea. Too many lives could be lost here. He would rather not have it be the case, but they had to wait. They had to put all their faith in whatever this priest presented in front of them.

The president could feel his grimace making permanent creases in his face.

The mass was no longer something hidden from the general population. Even on the sides of the Earth where it was day, they could see the blackness of the mass. It was much too close for anyone's liking. And now, without the help of the radio host, they were all left in the dark about what was going on.

They could only listen to the music left in the void of Pegasus' show. He could only listen to it and hope everyone was right about this whole thing.

He wasn't a man who dealt in fairytales and legends. He dealt in science and facts. And here the fact was simple:

They were all doomed if this fairytale turned out to be false.

“It'll be fine, bro.” Mokuba patted the world leader on the shoulder and grinned. “We've got the best guys on this. Yugi doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fail.'”

He let out a soft laugh. Well, he couldn't say his brother wasn't right about that.

“Ten minutes until impact.”

He could only hope Yugi didn't somehow find a way to die on his way here. Without the help of the radio, they were following blindly and moving on hope.

He never liked relying on faith. But, against this darkness, what choice did he have?

-

Mana ran out of the ruins when she heard the sounds of loud engines out on the desert. She frowned as the door to the ship opened and out came her master with Yugi Mutou and Pegasus Crawford.

Atem was in Yugi's arms. His eyes were half-lidded and exhausted.

“What happened?!” She looked at Mahad, worried for the being.

Mahad just strode past her. “There's no time for questions. We have to get everything ready.”

Yugi followed after Mahad. He was worried as well. After he noticed Atem was awake, he tried to get the other to talk to him. But it was as if the energy didn't return to the Pharaoh. He looked like something was on his mind. Something horrible.

He looked broken in a way Yugi didn't know. He wanted so badly to fix it, but it was far from the time or the place for personal issues.

Mahad strode into a large room. In it were six pillars surrounding a small platform. 

He pointed to the middle. “Lay Atem there.”

Yugi didn't want to let go of the being, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He placed Atem down gently before turning to Mahad. “Alright, how do we do this?”

Mahad looked at the pillars. He stared at each and every one before he turned to Yugi. “...I, uh...”

“You have no idea, do you?”

“Ehh.”

Yugi felt the panic start. He saw the mass heading for Earth. It wouldn't take much time for the thing to consume them all. 

He returned to the middle platform. “Atem? Atem, we need to know how to do this.”

The Pharaoh looked in Yugi's direction but his eyes didn't focus on the man. He just spoke. “Eye... Necklace.... Ring....”

“Yeah, we have them all. But what do we do with them?”

“...Scales... Key...”

Pegasus whimpered. “We're gonna die here.”

“...Rod...Puzzle...” When the last one was mentioned, He touched his chest. His hand slipped back and he said nothing more.

Yugi stared at him for a moment then looked at all the pillars. His eyes then moved to the items as they were taken out of his jacket. He moved to the pillar above Atem's head and saw a small carving of an eye along with an indent about the size of the smallest item. He wanted to slap himself for not seeing something so obvious. 

“Match all of them up with their pillars!”

Everyone scattered. One by one the items were put in position around the room. With each piece that fit into place, there was a sense of hope. The room seemed to brighten and glow from it.

But then. “Yu-Yugi? Yugi-boy?”

Yugi turned to see Pegasus. The radio host gripped the inverted pyramid tightly in his hands.

“We're all out of places. This one doesn't fit anywhere.” He looked at Mahad wildly. “Could it have fallen apart?!”

Yugi took the piece from his hand. He ignored Pegasus sobbing and words 'we're gonna die!' as he studied the pendant.

He could see small gaps in the gold. He wedged in his finger and pried a piece off. Then, he simply put it back in place. Like a puzzle.

Each pedestal was marked with a symbol to let them know where each item belonged. Was it possible that tattoo on Atem was more than just a symbol of who he was, but also a hint as to where the last item should be placed?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

He strode back to Atem. “I'm guessing this one is yours?”

Atem looked at it but didn't give away his answer in his expression. He also didn't fight it when Yugi looped the cord around his neck.

But then his tired limbs felt the added weight when Yugi lifted him again. “Okay, this is all you now. I know you're tired, but we have to do this one last thing. After that, you can rest.”

“...Why?”

Yugi blinked.

“Why would we save when it will all be destroyed by humanity in the end? There is nothing in this world worth the light.”

“That's not true at all! There's plenty to save!” Was he truly having a morality crisis at a time like this?! “I know you've been through a lot, but there's so much to love in this world.”

“Love. The Pharaoh is built to protect, not love. There is no love to be had.” His eyes welled up.

“Atem, that can't possibly be true. You're loved here... I..”

Mahad, Pegasus, and Mana watched the exchange tensely. They could just barely hear what was being said. But the priest understood the gist of it. He knew this moment was coming the second he opened the door to Yugi holding the Pharaoh.

Mahad practically glared at the back of Yugi's head. “Tell him, Yugi.”

Atem's eyes were back on Yugi. “...You...?”

“... I love you.”

The words and the sincerity in his eyes caused a lump to form in Atem's throat. He reached up and grabbed Yugi's face, immediately claiming his lips. The kiss was a desperate need for comfort in the time of crisis. He gripped the other as if afraid he would fade away at any moment. And as the shadow moved in, Atem knew there was a least one thing on this planet worth saving.

A glow emitted from Atem's forehead and the items were all slowly pulled off their pedestals to float in the air. All of them glowed brightly as they shot a white-hot beam of light into the center. It all entered Atem's body to find their way out and up through the Puzzle.

Atem ripped his mouth away from Yugi's just as the light took over. The beam shot directly up and out through the ceiling of the room.

Just outside the atmosphere, the light shot into the dark mass like a bullet. It didn't make a noise as it was destroyed.

As soon as it came, the light was gone. All the items in the room collapsed and fell haphazardly, some back on their pedestals, others on the floor. The Puzzle broke into pieces and followed suit with Atem's lap.

Yugi gently lowered Atem and brought a hand up to cup his cheek. For a moment, he thought the worst.

But then Atem's hand reached up to cover his own. He let out a soft breath of relief. As Atem's eyes opened again, he leaned down and pressed his forehead to the other's.

The room filled with silence as everyone processed what happened. The world was no longer under threat. The mass in the sky was gone.

“Yes!” Mana pumped her fists.

“No!” Pegasus gave Mana a slap on the arm and ignored her surprised 'ow,' “What's wrong with you?! Every five minutes something's exploding, or we're getting shot at?!” He looked around the ruins again with a glare. “I'm leaving before this place falls apart or something!”

Mahad and Mana watched him storm out before looking at each other in confusion. Slowly, the confusion passed as a more important point was remembered.

They were alive. Everyone was still safe.

-

Jounouchi watched the room celebrate loudly with a smile. Everyone lost any kind of professionalism and began hugging each other at the knowledge that their planet would live another day. 

He didn't blame them. If he hadn't already seen as much death in his time, he would be celebrating just like them.

He turned back to their world leader to see him actually leaning back in his seat and staring at the ceiling. Mokuba was laughing, possibly at his brother's reaction to not dying like they thought. He may have just survived several stress-induced heart attacks on his own.

Mokuba looked at the general when he walked back over. “So, we're alive.”

“Yep, it would seem like it.” Jounouchi grinned at the president. “Told ya Yugi would pull through.”

Mokuba grinned down at his brother, then looked back up with a thought. “He's probably going to need some rest once he gets in. I'll have to go set up a healing tank for him.” He took a step back and gave the two a little wave. “If you need me, I'll be in the labs!”

Jounouchi waved back and smiled at the departing form. He turned back. “He really can't stop working for a second, can he?”

“Hn. He's going to make himself sick one of these days.”

“Like you have a place to talk.”

The two watched as someone in the room produced a champagne bottle. The president stood up to stand at Jounouchi's side.

“For a second, I really thought Yugi wouldn't be able to do it. I thought this was a mission that was too big for him.”

“Glad you still have faith in him.” Jou gave him a sideways glance. “He had ya worried?”

For a moment, the leader didn't say anything. He didn't want to admit he spent the final second gripping his own hands and bracing for the impact. He would never say that, for a moment, he prayed to any deity listening that they would figure out a way out of this. It would be very unbecoming of an outspoken atheist to be thinking like that. He would never mention that his mind moved to all the regrets he had in his life. Jou didn't need to know.

But when he looked back at the blond, he could see the smirk. Jou already knew. He raised an eyebrow at the other. “Shouldn't you be celebrating with everyone else?”

“Nah, it's more fun here.” He looked away and smiled. “Gotta say, it's nice to see a more human side of President Seto Kaiba. It's not often I get to see him scared.” 

“Don't get used to it.”

A few champagne flutes found their way over to the general and the president. Jounouchi picked one up. “I think you should make it a habit. Do something dangerous once a month. Put you in a tense situation. Get the blood pumping.”

“It sounds like you're trying to get me laid.”

“Maybe I am.” He brought the flute up to his lips.

“What? Are you offering?”

Jounouchi sputtered on his drink at that. He choked and coughed, his face bright red. 

Kaiba smirked and stepped away from the desk. All these years of knowing him, he could still one up Jounouchi without an issue.

-

A few hours passed before the president and his group stepped into Mokuba's lab. With the way everyone was moving about and the presences of Mahad and Mana, they knew Yugi wasn't far behind.

Jounouchi grinned at the three. “Where's the hero of the hour?”

Mahad crossed his arms and nodded to the covered reanimation tank. “He and Yugi were tired and pretty injured. They're taking some time to heal before dealing with a lot of people.” His eyes narrowed. “You told me you'd inform me if there were any changes. The Pharaoh being alive is a major change.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes and waved dismissively at Mahad. “You'll have to forgive us. We were worried about the state of a planet and the lives of billions. Mokuba, bring them out, please.”

“You got it!” Mokuba moved to the computer and looked at it in confusion for a moment. Then, his eyes shot open wide and his face turned bright red. “On second thought... that might not be a good idea.”

“...They're fucking in there, aren't they?”

“Maybe... So, uh, I guess five more minutes?”

He thought about banging on the tank now to ruin any kind of mood they were having in there. But then he remembered what Jounouchi and Mokuba told him about the Pharaoh and how he easily punched through its glass the last time.

Maybe it was in everyone's best interest that he didn't. Not until he could get a proper read on this 'Pharaoh.'

“Yes, sir. Look it- I mean, yeah he's- Mr. Mut-” Jounouchi continued to try to speak with the phone up to his ear.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at Jounouchi.

Jou pulled the phone away from his ear and to his chest. “It's Yugi's Grandpa.”

He took the phone from the general and put it up to his own ear. “This is President Kaiba.”

The old man on the other end stopped speaking for a moment. “Really? The president?”

“Ye-”

“Your impressions are becoming more and more childish, Yugi! Even so, do you really think I'd be intimidated just because Kaiba's on the line? He was a little snot back when he was your classmate and he's still a little snot. Listen, I'm just calling because I saw you on the news holding that other man. You can't be bothered to tell your grandfather about your new boyfriend?! I-”

Kaiba hit 'end' and handed the phone back to Jounouchi.

The general looked at it when it rang again.

“Don't answer it.”

Yugi could deal with that mess after he was done inside. 

Inside the tank, both men were enthralled in one another. Atem's hands were tangled in Yugi's hair as Yugi occupied his own hands with their bodies. Their mouths were locked together, swallowing each other's soft sighs and moans. There wasn't much room in the tank but it didn't matter. They didn't need anything more right now.

Atem broke the kiss and smiled at his partner. Yes, this was all he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are, at the very end. I hope you all enjoyed this silly little adaptation of mine! It was fun to write! :D


End file.
